Signaling in a high efficiency wireless network

ABSTRACT

is satisfied, where TPE is the duration of the packet extension, TXTIME is a transmission time of the HE PPDU, TSE is the duration of the signal extension, and TSYM is a duration of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU. The wireless device may set the Packet Extension Disambiguity bit to one when the relationship is satisfied; and to zero when the relationship is not satisfied.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/576,624, filed Sep. 19, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 15/647,197, filed Jul. 11, 2017 and issued as U.S.Pat. No. 10,470,214 on Nov. 5, 2019, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/360,915, filed Jul. 11, 2016, andU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/380,926, filed Aug. 29, 2016,which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The technology described herein relates generally to wirelessnetworking. More particularly, the technology relates to one or more ofdetermining a disambiguity indication for a transmission in a wirelessnetwork and determining an indication of a transmission time for atransmission in the wireless network.

2. Description of the Related Art

Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) devices are currently being deployedin diverse environments. Some of these environments have large numbersof access points (APs) and non-AP stations in geographically limitedareas. In addition, WLAN devices are increasingly required to support avariety of applications such as video, cloud access, and offloading. Inparticular, video traffic is expected to be the dominant type of trafficin many high efficiency WLAN deployments. With the real-timerequirements of some of these applications, WLAN users demand improvedperformance in delivering their applications, including improved powerconsumption for battery-operated devices.

A WLAN is being standardized by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers) Part 11 under the name of “Wireless LAN MediumAccess Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications.” A seriesof standards have been adopted as the WLAN evolved, including IEEE Std802.11™-2012 (March 2012) (IEEE 802.11n). The IEEE Std 802.11 wassubsequently amended by IEEE Std 802.11ae™-2012, IEEE Std802.11aa™-2012, IEEE Std 802.11ad™-2012, and IEEE Std 802.11ac™-2013(IEEE 802.11ac).

Recently, an amendment focused on providing a High Efficiency (HE) WLANin high-density scenarios is being developed by the IEEE 802.11ax taskgroup. The 802.11ax amendment focuses on improving metrics that reflectuser experience, such as average per station throughput, the 5thpercentile of per station throughput of a group of stations, and areathroughput. Improvements may be made to support environments such aswireless corporate offices, outdoor hotspots, dense residentialapartments, and stadiums.

Fairness in obtaining the use of a wireless medium between differentkinds of devices minimizes the probability that any one device will beunable to make sufficient use of the wireless medium. A difference inhow different devices determine a length of a transmission made byanother device can affect the fairness of obtaining the use of awireless medium.

SUMMARY

In an embodiment, a method performed by a wireless device comprisesgenerating a High-Efficiency (HE) PHY Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) fortransmission. Generating the HE PPDU includes setting a Packet ExtensionDisambiguity bit of an HE Signal-A (HE-SIG-A) field of the HE PPDU toone or zero based on a duration of a packet extension of the HE PPDU anda duration of a signal extension of the HE PPDU. The method furthercomprises transmitting the HE PPDU.

In an embodiment, setting the Packet Extension Disambiguity bitcomprises determining whether a relationship

${T_{PE} + \left( {{4 \times \left\lceil \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - {20}}{4} \right\rceil} - \left( {{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - {20}} \right)} \right)} \geq T_{{SYM}\;}$

is satisfied, where T_(PE) is the duration of the packet extension ofthe HE PPDU, TXTIME is a transmission time of the HE PPDU, T_(SE) is theduration of the signal extension of the HE PPDU, [x] is the ceiling ofx, and T_(SYM) is a duration of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU.The Packet Extension Disambiguity bit is set to one when therelationship is satisfied, and set to zero when the relationship is notsatisfied.

In an embodiment, T_(SE) is 6 μs when the wireless device is operatingin a 2.4 GHz band, and 0 μs when the wireless device is operating in a 5GHz band.

In an embodiment, generating the HE PPDU further includes determining avalue L_LENGTH of a Length field of a Non-HT Signal (L-SIG) field of theHE PPDU according to

${{L\_ LENGTH} = {{\left\lceil \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - {20}}{4} \right\rceil \times 3} - 3 - m}},$

where m is 1 when the HE PPDU is an HE Multi User (MU) PPDU HE orExtended Range Single User (SU) PPDU and 2 otherwise.

In an embodiment, the method further comprises when the HE PPDU is an HESingle User (SU) PPDU, determining the transmission time TXTIMEaccording to:

TXTIME = T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) + T_(L-SIG) + T_(RL-SIG) + T_(HE-SIG-A) + T_(HE-PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)

where T_(L-STF) is a non-HT Short Training Filed (STF) duration of theHE PPDU, T_(L-LTF) is a Non-HT Long Training Field (LTF) duration of theHE PPDU, T_(HE-STF-NT) is an HE STF duration of the HE PPDU, T_(L-SIG)is a Non-HT Signal (L-SIG) field duration of the HE PPDU, T_(RL-SIG) isa Repeated non-HT SIGNAL field duration of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-SIG-A) isan HE Signal A (HE-SIG-A) field duration of the HE PPDU, N_(SYM) is anumber of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is aduration of each Orthogonal Frequency Division Modulation (OFDM) symbol,including Guard Interval (GI), in an HE-LTF field of the HE PPDU,N_(HE-LTF) is a number of symbols in the HE LTF field of the HE PPDU,T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF)+T_(L-LTF), and THE-PREAMBLE isequal to T_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)×T_(HE-LTF-SYM).

In an embodiment, the method further comprises when the HE PPDU is an HEtrigger-based PPDU, determining the transmission time TXTIME accordingto:

TXTIME = T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) + T_(L-SIG) + T_(RL-SIG) + T_(HE-SIG-A) + T_(HE-PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)

where T_(L-STF) is a non-HT STF duration of the HE PPDU, T_(L-LTF) is aNon-HT LTF duration of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-STF-T) is an HE STF durationof the HE PPDU, T_(L-SIG) is an L-SIG field duration of the HE PPDU,T_(RL-SIG) is a Repeated non-HT SIGNAL field duration of the HE PPDU,T_(HE-SIG-A) is an HE-SIG-A field duration of the HE PPDU, N_(SYM) is anumber of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is aduration of each OFDM symbol, including GI, in an HE-LTF field of the HEPPDU, N_(HE-LTF) is a number of symbols in the HE LTF field of the HEPPDU, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF) T_(L-LTF), andT_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(HE-STF-T)+N_(HE-LTF)×T_(HE-LTF-SYM).

In an embodiment, the method further comprises when the HE PPDU is an HEMulti User (MU) PPDU, determining the transmission time TXTIME accordingto:

TXTIME = T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) + T_(L-SIG) + T_(RL-SIG) + T_(HE-SIG-A) + N_(HE-SIG-B)T_(HE-SIG-B) + T_(HE-PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)

where T_(L-STF) is a non-HT STF duration of the HE PPDU, T_(L-LTF) is aNon-HT LTF duration of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-STF-NT) is an HE STF durationof the HE PPDU, T_(L-SIG) is an L-SIG field duration of the HE PPDU,T_(RL-SIG) is a Repeated non-HT SIGNAL field duration of the HE PPDU,T_(HE-SIG-A) is an HE-SIG-A field duration of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-SIG-B)is an duration of each OFDM symbol in an HE Signal B (HE-SIG-B) field ofthe HE PPDU, N_(HE-SIG-B) is a number of symbols in the HE-SIG-B fieldof the HE PPDU, N_(SYM) is a number of symbols in a data field of the HEPPDU, T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is a duration of each OFDM symbol, including GI, inan HE-LTF field of the HE PPDU, N_(HE-LTF) is a number of symbols in anHE LTF field of the HE PPDU, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal toT_(L-STF)+T_(L-LTF), and T_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal toT_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)×T_(HE-LTF-SYM).

In an embodiment, the method further comprises when the HE PPDU is an HEExtended Range Single User (SU) PPDU, determining the transmission timeTXTIME according to:

TXTIME = T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) + T_(L-SIG) + T_(RL-SIG) + T_(HE-SIG-A) + T_(HE-SIG-A-R) + T_(HE-PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)

where T_(L-STF) is a non-HT STF duration, T_(L-LTF) is a Non-HT LTFduration, T_(HE-STF-NT) is an HE STF duration, T_(L-SIG) is an L-SIGfield duration, T_(RL-SIG) is a repeated non-HT SIGNAL field duration,T_(HE-SIG-A) is an HE-SIG-A field duration, T_(HE-SIG-A-R) is anHE-SIG-A field duration for Extended Range, N_(SYM) is a number ofsymbols in a data field of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is a duration ofeach OFDM symbol, including GI, in an HE-LTF field of the HE PPDU,N_(HE-LTF) is a number of symbols in an HE LTF field of the HE PPDU,T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF) T_(L-LTF), and T_(HE-PREAMBLE) isequal to T_(HE-STF-NT) N_(HE-LTF) λT_(HE-LTF-SYM).

In an embodiment, a wireless device comprises a transmitter circuit. Thewireless device generates a High-Efficiency (HE) PHY Protocol Data Unit(PPDU) and transmits, using the transmitter circuit, the HE PPDU.Generating the HE PPDU includes setting a Packet Extension Disambiguitybit of an HE Signal-A (HE-SIG-A) field of the HE PPDU to one or zerobased on a duration of a packet extension of the HE PPDU and a durationof a signal extension of the HE PPDU.

In an embodiment, setting the Packet Extension Disambiguity bitcomprises determining whether a relationship

${T_{PE} + \left( {{4 \times \left\lceil \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - {20}}{4} \right\rceil} - \left( {{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - {20}} \right)} \right)} \geq T_{{SYM}\;}$

is satisfied, where T_(PE) is a duration of the packet extension of theHE PPDU, TXTIME is a transmission time of the HE PPDU, T_(SE) is theduration of the signal extension of the HE PPDU, and T_(SYM) is aduration of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU. The Packet ExtensionDisambiguity bit of the HE-SIG-A field of the HE PPDU is set to one whenthe relationship is satisfied, and set to zero when the relationship isnot satisfied.

In an embodiment, T_(SE) is 6 μs when the wireless device is operatingin a 2.4 GHz band, and 0 μs when the wireless device is operating in a 5GHz band.

In an embodiment, generating the HE PPDU further includes determine avalue L_LENGTH of a Length field of a Non-HT Signal (L-SIG) field of theHE PPDU according to

${{L\_ LENGTH} = {{\left\lceil \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - {20}}{4} \right\rceil \times 3} - 3 - m}},$

where m is 1 when the HE PPDU is an HE Multi User (MU) PPDU HE orExtended Range Single User (SU) PPDU and 2 otherwise.

An embodiment further comprises the wireless device determining theTXTIME when the HE PPDU is an HE Single User (SU) PPDU according to:

TXTIME = T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) + T_(L-SIG) + T_(RL-SIG) + T_(HE-SIG-A) + T_(HE-PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)

where T_(L-STF) is a Non-High Throughput (non-HT) Short Training Field(STF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(L-LTF) is a Non-HT Long Training Field(LTF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-STF-NT) is an HE STF duration ofthe HE PPDU, T_(L-SIG) is a Non-HT Signal (L-SIG) field duration of theHE PPDU, T_(RL-SIG) is a Repeated non-HT SIGNAL field duration of the HEPPDU, T_(HE-SIG-A) is an HE Signal A (HE-SIG-A) field duration of the HEPPDU, N_(SYM) is a number of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU,T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is a duration of each Orthogonal Frequency DivisionModulation (OFDM) symbol, including Guard Interval (GI), in an HE-LTFfield of the HE PPDU, N_(HE-LTF) is a number of symbols in the HE LTFfield of the HE PPDU, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF)+T_(L-LTF),and T_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)×T_(HE-LTF-SYM).

An embodiment further comprises the wireless device determining theTXTIME when the HE PPDU is an HE trigger-based PPDU according to:

TXTIME = T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) + T_(L-SIG) + T_(RL-SIG) + T_(HE-SIG-A) + T_(HE-PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)

where T_(L-STF) is a Non-High Throughput (non-HT) Short Training Field(STF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(L-LTF) is a Non-HT Long Training Field(LTF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-STF-T) is an HE STF duration of theHE PPDU, T_(L-SIG) is a Non-HT Signal (L-SIG) field duration of the HEPPDU, T_(RL-SIG) is a Repeated non-HT SIGNAL field duration of the HEPPDU, T_(HE-SIG-A) is an HE Signal A (HE-SIG-A) field duration of the HEPPDU, N_(SYM) is a number of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU,T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is a duration of each Orthogonal Frequency DivisionModulation (OFDM) symbol, including Guard Interval (GI), in an HE-LTFfield of the HE PPDU, N_(HE-LTF) is a number of symbols in the HE LTFfield of the HE PPDU, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF) T_(L-LTF),and T_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(HE-STF-T)+N_(HE-LTF)×T_(HE-LTF-SYM).

An embodiment further comprises the wireless device determining theTXTIME when the HE PPDU is an HE Multi User (MU) PPDU according to:

TXTIME = T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) + T_(L-SIG) + T_(RL-SIG) + T_(HE-SIG-A) + N_(HE-SIG-B)T_(HE-SIG-B) + T_(HE-PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)

where T_(L-STF) is a Non-High Throughput (non-HT) Short Training Field(STF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(L-LTF) is a Non-HT Long Training Field(LTF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-STF-NT) is an HE STF duration ofthe HE PPDU, T_(L-SIG) is a Non-HT Signal (L-SIG) field duration of theHE PPDU, T_(RL-SIG) is a Repeated non-HT SIGNAL field duration of the HEPPDU, T_(HE-SIG-A) is an HE Signal A (HE-SIG-A) field duration of the HEPPDU, T_(HE-SIG-B) is an duration of each OFDM symbol in an HE Signal B(HE-SIG-B) field of the HE PPDU, N_(HE-SIG-B) is a number of symbols inthe HE-SIG-B field of the HE PPDU, N_(SYM) is a number of symbols in adata field of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is a duration of eachOrthogonal Frequency Division Modulation (OFDM) symbol, including GuardInterval (GI), in an HE-LTF field of the HE PPDU, N_(HE_LTF) is a numberof symbols in an HE LTF field of the HE PPDU, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equalto T_(L-STF)+T_(L-LTF), and T_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal toT_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)×T_(HE-LTF-SYM).

An embodiment further comprises the wireless device determining theTXTIME when the HE PPDU is an HE Extended Range Single User (SU) PPDUaccording to:

TXTIME = T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) + T_(L-SIG) + T_(RL-SIG) + T_(HE-SIG-A) + T_(HE-SIG-A-R) + T_(HE-PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)

where T_(L-STF) is a Non-High Throughput (non-HT) Short Training Field(STF) duration, T_(L-LTF) is a Non-HT Long Training Field (LTF)duration, T_(HE-STF-NT) is an HE STF duration, T_(L-SIG) is a Non-HTSignal (L-SIG) field duration, T_(RL-SIG) is a repeated non-HT SIGNALfield duration, T_(HE-SIG-A) is an HE Signal A (HE-SIG-A) fieldduration, T_(HE-SIG-A-R) is an HE-SIG-A field duration for ExtendedRange, N_(SYM) is a number of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU,T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is a duration of each Orthogonal Frequency DivisionModulation (OFDM) symbol, including Guard Interval (GI), in an HE-LTFfield of the HE PPDU, N_(HE-LTF) is a number of symbols in an HE LTFfield of the HE PPDU, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF) T_(L-LTF),and T_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)×T_(HE-LTF-SYM).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless network, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a wireless device, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 3A illustrates components of a wireless device configured totransmit data, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3B illustrates components of a wireless device configured toreceive data, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates Inter-Frame Space (IFS) relationships.

FIG. 5 illustrates a Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance(CSMA/CA) based frame transmission procedure.

FIG. 6A illustrates a High Efficiency (HE) PHY Protocol Data Units(PPDU), according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6B shows a Table 1 disclosing additional properties of fields ofthe HE PPDU frame of FIG. 6A, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7 includes a table of timing-related constants, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 8 includes a table showing a Packet Extension field in an HE SignalA (HE-SIG-A) field, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 9A illustrates inter-frame time intervals between Non-HT, HT, andHE PPDUs in a 5 GHz band.

FIG. 9B illustrates inter-frame time intervals between Non-HT, HT, andHE PPDUs in a 2.4 GHz band.

FIG. 10 illustrates inter-frame time intervals between Non-HT, HT, andHE PPDUs in a 2.4 GHz band, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates an HE PPDU having a packet extension and gap time,according to an embodiment.

FIG. 12 illustrates an HE PPDU having a packet extension extended by agap time, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 13 illustrates inter-frame time intervals between Non-HT, HT, andHE PPDUs in a 2.4 GHz band, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 14 illustrates an HE PPDU having a packet extension, a gap time,and a signal extension, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 15 illustrates an HE PPDU having a packet extension extended by agap time and a signal extension, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 16 illustrates inter-frame time intervals between Non-HT, HT, andHE PPDUs in a 2.4 GHz band, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 17 illustrates an HE PPDU having a packet extension extended by agap time and by 6 microseconds (μs), according to an embodiment.

FIG. 18 illustrates an HE PPDU having a signal extension, according toan embodiment.

FIG. 19 illustrates a PHY transmit procedure for an HE_SU format PPDU,according to an embodiment.

FIG. 20 illustrates a PHY transmit procedure for an HE_MU format PPDU,according to an embodiment.

FIG. 21 illustrates a PHY transmit procedure for an HE_EXT_SU formatPPDU, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 22 illustrates a PHY transmit procedure for an HE_TRIG format PPDU,according to an embodiment.

FIGS. 23A and 23B illustrate a PHY transmit state machine for an HEcapable PHY, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 24 illustrates a PHY Receive procedure or a PPDU having an HE_SUpreamble, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 25 illustrates a PHY Receive procedure for a PPDU having anHE_EXT_SU preamble, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 26 illustrates a PHY Receive procedure for a PPDU having an HE_MUpreamble, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 27 illustrates a PHY Receive procedure for a PPDU having an HE_TRIGpreamble, according to an embodiment.

FIGS. 28A and 28B illustrate a PHY receive state machine for anHE-capable PHY, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 29 illustrates a process for determining a Packet Extension (PE)Disambiguity bit and a transmission time TXTIME of an HE PPDU, accordingto an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The technology described herein relates generally to wirelessnetworking. More particularly, the technology relates to improvingfairness of access to a wireless medium including a 2.4 GHz band insituations where both stations capable of performing High Efficiency(HE) WLAN operations (HE stations) and stations not capable ofperforming HE WLAN operations (non-HE stations) are competing for accessto the 2.4 GHz band.

In the following detailed description, certain illustrative embodimentshave been illustrated and described. As those skilled in the art wouldrealize, these embodiments are capable of modification in variousdifferent ways without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regardedas illustrative in nature and not restrictive. Like reference numeralsdesignate like elements in the specification.

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless network according to an embodiment. Thewireless networks includes an infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) 100of a Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN). In an 802.11 WLAN, the BSSprovides the basic organizational unit and typically includes an AccessPoint (AP) and one or more associated stations (STAs).

The first BSS 100 includes an Access Point 102 (also referred to as AP)wirelessly communicating with first, second, third, and fourth wirelessdevices (or stations) 104, 106, 108, and 110 (also referred to asstations STA1, STA2, STA3, and STA4, respectively). The wireless devicesmay each include a medium access control (MAC) layer and a physical(PHY) layer according to an IEEE 802.11 standard.

Although FIG. 1 shows the first BSS 100 including only the first tofourth stations STA1 to STA4, embodiments are not limited thereto andmay comprise BSSs including any number of stations.

The AP 102 is a station, that is, a STA, configured to control andcoordinate functions of the BSS 100. The AP 102 may transmit informationto a single station selected from the plurality of stations STA1 to STA4in the first BSS 100 using a single frame, or may simultaneouslytransmit information to two or more of the stations STA1 to STA4 in thefirst BSS 100 using either a single Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiplexing (OFDM) broadcast frame, a single OFDM Multi-UserMulti-Input-Multi-Output (MU-MIMO) transmission, a single OrthogonalFrequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) frame, or a single MU-MIMOOFDMA frame.

The stations STA1 to STA4 may each transmit data to the AP 102 using asingle frame, or transmit information to and receive information fromeach other using a single frame. Two or more of the stations STA1 toSTA4 may simultaneously transmit data to the AP 102 using an Uplink (UL)OFDMA frame, an UL MU-MIMO frame, or an UL MU-MIMO OFDMA frame.

In another embodiment, the AP 102 may be absent and the stations STA1 toSTA4 may be in an ad-hoc network.

FIG. 1 shows a first Down-Link (DL) transmission 114 and a first Up-Link(UL) transmission 112 of the first BSS 100.

Each of the stations STA1 to STA4 and the AP 102 includes a processorand one or more transceiver circuits, and may further include a userinterface and a display device.

The processor is configured to generate a frame to be transmittedthrough a wireless network, to process a frame received through thewireless network, and to execute protocols of the wireless network. Theprocessor may perform some or all of its functions by executing computerprogramming instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readablemedium.

The transceiver represents a unit functionally connected to theprocessor, and designed to transmit and receive a frame through thewireless network. The transceiver may include a single component thatperforms the functions of transmitting and receiving, or two separatecomponents each performing one of such functions.

The processor and transceiver of the stations STA1 to STA4 and the AP102 may be respectively implemented using hardware components, softwarecomponents, or both.

The first AP 102 may be or include a WLAN router, a stand-alone AccessPoint, a WLAN bridge, a Light-Weight Access Point (LWAP) managed by aWLAN controller, and the like. In addition, a device such as a personalcomputer, tablet computer, or cellular phone may configured to be ableto operate as the AP 102, such as when a cellular phone is configured tooperate as a wireless “hot spot.”

Each of the stations STA1 to STA4 may be or may include a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, a tablet PC, a wireless phone, a mobilephone, a smart phone, an e-book reader, a Portable Multimedia Player(PMP), a portable game console, a navigation system, a digital camera, aDigital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) player, a digital audio recorder,a digital audio player, a digital picture recorder, a digital pictureplayer, a digital video recorder, a digital video player, and the like.

The present disclosure may be applied to WLAN systems according to IEEE802.11 standards but embodiments are not limited thereto.

In IEEE 802.11 standards, frames exchanged between stations (includingaccess points) are classified into management frames, control frames,and data frames. A management frame may be a frame used for exchangingmanagement information that is not forwarded to a higher layer of acommunication protocol stack. A control frame may be a frame used forcontrolling access to a medium. A data frame may be a frame used fortransmitting data to be forwarded to the higher layer of thecommunication protocol stack.

A type and subtype of a frame may be identified using a type fieldand/or a subtype field included in a control field of the frame, asprescribed in the applicable standard.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic block diagram of a wireless device 200according to an embodiment. The wireless or WLAN device 200 may beincluded in the AP 102 or any of the stations STA1 to STA4 in FIG. 1.The WLAN device 200 includes a baseband processor 210, a radio frequency(RF) transceiver 240, an antenna unit 250, a storage device (e.g.,memory) 232, one or more input interfaces 234, and one or more outputinterfaces 236. The baseband processor 210, the memory 232, the inputinterfaces 234, the output interfaces 236, and the RF transceiver 240may communicate with each other via a bus 260.

The baseband processor 210 performs baseband signal processing, andincludes a MAC processor 212 and a PHY processor 222. The basebandprocessor 210 may utilize the memory 232, which may include anon-transitory computer readable medium having software (e.g., computerprograming instructions) and data stored therein.

In an embodiment, the MAC processor 212 includes a MAC softwareprocessing unit 214 and a MAC hardware processing unit 216. The MACsoftware processing unit 214 may implement a first plurality offunctions of the MAC layer by executing MAC software, which may beincluded in the software stored in the memory 232. The MAC hardwareprocessing unit 216 may implement a second plurality of functions of theMAC layer in special-purpose hardware. However, the MAC processor 212 isnot limited thereto. For example, the MAC processor 212 may beconfigured to perform the first and second plurality of functionsentirely in software or entirely in hardware according to animplementation.

The PHY processor 222 includes a transmitting signal processing unit(SPU) 224 and a receiving SPU 226. The PHY processor 222 implements aplurality of functions of the PHY layer. These functions may beperformed in software, hardware, or a combination thereof according toan implementation.

Functions performed by the transmitting SPU 224 may include one or moreof Forward Error Correction (FEC) encoding, stream parsing into one ormore spatial streams, diversity encoding of the spatial streams into aplurality of space-time streams, spatial mapping of the space-timestreams to transmit chains, inverse Fourier Transform (iFT) computation,Cyclic Prefix (CP) insertion to create a Guard Interval (GI), and thelike. Functions performed by the receiving SPU 226 may include inversesof the functions performed by the transmitting SPU 224, such as GIremoval, Fourier Transform computation, and the like.

The RF transceiver 240 includes an RF transmitter 242 and an RF receiver244. The RF transceiver 240 is configured to transmit first informationreceived from the baseband processor 210 to the WLAN, and provide secondinformation received from the WLAN to the baseband processor 210.

The antenna unit 250 includes one or more antennas. When Multiple-InputMultiple-Output (MIMO) or Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO) is used, the antennaunit 250 may include a plurality of antennas. In an embodiment, theantennas in the antenna unit 250 may operate as a beam-formed antennaarray. In an embodiment, the antennas in the antenna unit 250 may bedirectional antennas, which may be fixed or steerable.

The input interfaces 234 receive information from a user, and the outputinterfaces 236 output information to the user. The input interfaces 234may include one or more of a keyboard, keypad, mouse, touchscreen,microphone, and the like. The output interfaces 236 may include one ormore of a display device, touch screen, speaker, and the like.

As described herein, many functions of the WLAN device 200 may beimplemented in either hardware or software. Which functions areimplemented in software and which functions are implemented in hardwarewill vary according to constraints imposed on a design. The constraintsmay include one or more of design cost, manufacturing cost, time tomarket, power consumption, available semiconductor technology, and soon.

As described herein, a wide variety of electronic devices, circuits,firmware, software, and combinations thereof may be used to implementthe functions of the components of the WLAN device 200. Furthermore, theWLAN device 200 may include other components, such as applicationprocessors, storage interfaces, clock generator circuits, power supplycircuits, and the like, which have been omitted in the interest ofbrevity.

FIG. 3A illustrates components of a wireless device configured totransmit data according to an embodiment, including a Transmitting (Tx)SPU (TxSP) 324, an RF transmitter 342, and an antenna 352. In anembodiment, the TxSP 324, the RF transmitter 342, and the antenna 352correspond to the transmitting SPU 224, the RF transmitter 242, and anantenna of the antenna unit 250 of FIG. 2, respectively.

The TxSP 324 includes an encoder 300, an interleaver 302, a mapper 304,an inverse Fourier transformer (IFT) 306, and a guard interval (GI)inserter 308.

The encoder 300 receives and encodes input data DATA. In an embodiment,the encoder 300 includes a forward error correction (FEC) encoder. TheFEC encoder may include a binary convolutional code (BCC) encoderfollowed by a puncturing device. The FEC encoder may include alow-density parity-check (LDPC) encoder.

The TxSP 324 may further include a scrambler for scrambling the inputdata before the encoding is performed by the encoder 300 to reduce theprobability of long sequences of 0s or 1s. When the encoder 300 performsthe BCC encoding, the TxSP 324 may further include an encoder parser fordemultiplexing the scrambled bits among a plurality of BCC encoders. IfLDPC encoding is used in the encoder, the TxSP 324 may not use theencoder parser.

The interleaver 302 interleaves the bits of each stream output from theencoder 300 to change an order of bits therein. The interleaver 302 mayapply the interleaving only when the encoder 300 performs the BCCencoding, and otherwise may output the stream output from the encoder300 without changing the order of the bits therein.

The mapper 304 maps the sequence of bits output from the interleaver 302to constellation points. If the encoder 300 performed LDPC encoding, themapper 304 may also perform LDPC tone mapping in addition to theconstellation mapping.

When the TxSP 324 performs a MIMO or MU-MIMO transmission, the TxSP 324may include a plurality of interleavers 302 and a plurality of mappers304 according to a number of spatial streams (NSS) of the transmission.The TxSP 324 may further include a stream parser for dividing the outputof the encoder 300 into blocks and may respectively send the blocks todifferent interleavers 302 or mappers 304. The TxSP 324 may furtherinclude a space-time block code (STBC) encoder for spreading theconstellation points from the spatial streams into a number ofspace-time streams (NSTS) and a spatial mapper for mapping thespace-time streams to transmit chains. The spatial mapper may use directmapping, spatial expansion, or beamforming.

The IFT 306 converts a block of the constellation points output from themapper 304 (or, when MIMO or MU-MIMO is performed, the spatial mapper)to a time domain block (i.e., a symbol) by using an inverse discreteFourier transform (IDFT) or an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). Ifthe STBC encoder and the spatial mapper are used, the IFT 306 may beprovided for each transmit chain.

When the TxSP 324 performs a MIMO or MU-MIMO transmission, the TxSP 324may insert cyclic shift diversities (CSDs) to prevent unintentionalbeamforming. The TxSP 324 may perform the insertion of the CSD before orafter the IFT 306. The CSD may be specified per transmit chain or may bespecified per space-time stream. Alternatively, the CSD may be appliedas a part of the spatial mapper.

When the TxSP 324 performs a MIMO or MU-MIMO transmission, some blocksbefore the spatial mapper may be provided for each user.

The GI inserter 308 prepends a GI to each symbol produced by the IFT306. Each GI may include a Cyclic Prefix (CP) corresponding to arepeated portion of the end of the symbol that the GI precedes. The TxSP324 may optionally perform windowing to smooth edges of each symbolafter inserting the GI.

The RF transmitter 342 converts the symbols into an RF signal andtransmits the RF signal via the antenna 352. When the TxSP 324 performsa MIMO or MU-MIMO transmission, the GI inserter 308 and the RFtransmitter 342 may be provided for each transmit chain.

FIG. 3B illustrates components of a wireless device configured toreceive data according to an embodiment, including a Receiver (Rx) SPU(RxSP) 326, an RF receiver 344, and an antenna 354. In an embodiment,the RxSP 326, RF receiver 344, and antenna 354 may correspond to thereceiving SPU 226, the RF receiver 244, and an antenna of the antennaunit 250 of FIG. 2, respectively.

The RxSP 326 includes a GI remover 318, a Fourier transformer (FT) 316,a demapper 314, a deinterleaver 312, and a decoder 310.

The RF receiver 344 receives an RF signal via the antenna 354 andconverts the RF signal into symbols. The GI remover 318 removes the GIfrom each of the symbols. When the received transmission is a MIMO orMU-MIMO transmission, the RF receiver 344 and the GI remover 318 may beprovided for each receive chain.

The FT 316 converts each symbol (that is, each time domain block) into afrequency domain block of constellation points by using a discreteFourier transform (DFT) or a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The FT 316may be provided for each receive chain.

When the received transmission is the MIMO or MU-MIMO transmission, theRxSP 326 may include a spatial demapper for converting the respectiveoutputs of the FTs 316 of the receiver chains to constellation points ofa plurality of space-time streams, and an STBC decoder for despreadingthe constellation points from the space-time streams into one or morespatial streams.

The demapper 314 demaps the constellation points output from the FT 316or the STBC decoder to bit streams. If the received transmission wasencoded using the LDPC encoding, the demapper 314 may further performLDPC tone demapping before performing the constellation demapping.

The deinterleaver 312 deinterleaves the bits of each stream output fromthe demapper 314. The deinterleaver 312 may perform the deinterleavingonly when the received transmission was encoded using the BCC encoding,and otherwise may output the stream output by the demapper 314 withoutperforming deinterleaving.

When the received transmission is the MIMO or MU-MIMO transmission, theRxSP 326 may use a plurality of demappers 314 and a plurality ofdeinterleavers 312 corresponding to the number of spatial streams of thetransmission. In this case, the RxSP 326 may further include a streamdeparser for combining the streams output from the deinterleavers 312.

The decoder 310 decodes the streams output from the deinterleaver 312 orthe stream deparser. In an embodiment, the decoder 312 includes an FECdecoder. The FEC decoder may include a BCC decoder or an LDPC decoder.

The RxSP 326 may further include a descrambler for descrambling thedecoded data. When the decoder 310 performs the BCC decoding, the RxSP326 may further include an encoder deparser for multiplexing the datadecoded by a plurality of BCC decoders. When the decoder 310 performsthe LDPC decoding, the RxSP 326 may not use the encoder deparser.

Before making a transmission, wireless devices such as wireless device200 will assess the availability of the wireless medium using ClearChannel Assessment (CCA). If the medium is occupied, CCA may determinethat it is busy, while if the medium is available, CCA determines thatit is idle.

The PHY entity for IEEE Std 802.11 μs based on Orthogonal FrequencyDivision Multiplexing (OFDM) or Orthogonal Frequency Division MultipleAccess (OFDMA). In either OFDM or OFDMA Physical (PHY) layers, a STA iscapable of transmitting and receiving Physical Layer Protocol Data Units(PPDUs) that are compliant with the mandatory PHY specifications. A PHYspecification defines a set of Modulation and Coding Schemes (MCS) and amaximum number of spatial streams. Some PHY entities define downlink(DL) and uplink (UL) Multi-User (MU) transmissions having a maximumnumber of space-time streams (STS) per user and employing up to apredetermined total number of STSs.

FIG. 4 illustrates Inter-Frame Space (IFS) relationships. FIG. 4illustrates a Short IFS (SIFS), a Point Coordination Function (PCF) IFS(PIFS), a Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) IFS (DIFS), and anArbitration IFSs corresponding to an Access Category (AC) ‘i’ (AIFS[i]).FIG. 4 also illustrates a slot time.

A data frame is used for transmission of data forwarded to a higherlayer. The WLAN device transmits the data frame after performing backoffif a DIFS has elapsed during which DIFS the medium has been idle.

A management frame is used for exchanging management information, whichis not forwarded to the higher layer. Subtype frames of the managementframe include a beacon frame, an association request/response frame, aprobe request/response frame, and an authentication request/responseframe.

A control frame is used for controlling access to the medium. Subtypeframes of the control frame include a request to send (RTS) frame, aclear to send (CTS) frame, and an acknowledgement (ACK) frame.

When the control frame is not a response frame of another frame, theWLAN device transmits the control frame after performing backoff if aDIFS has elapsed during which DIFS the medium has been idle. When thecontrol frame is the response frame of another frame, the WLAN devicetransmits the control frame after a SIFS has elapsed without performingbackoff or checking whether the medium is idle.

A WLAN device that supports a Quality of Service (QoS) functionality(that is, a QoS station) may transmit the frame after performing backoffif an AIFS for an associated access category (AC), (AIFS[AC]), haselapsed. When transmitted by the QoS station, any of the data frame, themanagement frame, and the control frame which is not the response framemay use the AIFS[AC] of the AC of the transmitted frame.

A WLAN device may perform a backoff procedure when the WLAN device thatis ready to transfer a frame finds the medium busy. In addition, a WLANdevice operating according to the IEEE 802.11n and 802.11ac standardsmay perform the backoff procedure when the WLAN device infers that atransmission of a frame by the WLAN device has failed.

The backoff procedure includes determining a random backoff timecomposed of N backoff slots, each backoff slot having a duration equalto a slot time and N being an integer number greater than or equal tozero. The backoff time may be determined according to a length of aContention Window (CW). In an embodiment, the backoff time may bedetermined according to an AC of the frame. All backoff slots occurfollowing a DIFS or Extended IFS (EIFS) period during which the mediumis determined to be idle for the duration of the period.

When the WLAN device detects no medium activity for the duration of aparticular backoff slot, the backoff procedure shall decrement thebackoff time by the slot time. When the WLAN determines that the mediumis busy during a backoff slot, the backoff procedure is suspended untilthe medium is again determined to be idle for the duration of a DIFS orEIFS period. The WLAN device may perform transmission or retransmissionof the frame when the backoff timer reaches zero.

The backoff procedure operates so that when multiple WLAN devices aredeferring and execute the backoff procedure, each WLAN device may selecta backoff time using a random function, and the WLAN device selectingthe smallest backoff time may win the contention, reducing theprobability of a collision.

FIG. 5 illustrates a Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance(CSMA/CA) based frame transmission procedure for avoiding collisionbetween frames in a channel according to an embodiment. FIG. 5 shows afirst station STA1 transmitting data, a second station STA2 receivingthe data, and a third station STA3 that may be located in an area wherea frame transmitted from the STA1, a frame transmitted from the secondstation STA2, or both can be received. The stations STA1, STA2, and STA3may be WLAN devices.

The STA1 may determine whether the channel is busy by carrier sensing.The STA1 may determine the channel occupation based on an energy levelin the channel or an autocorrelation of signals in the channel, or maydetermine the channel occupation by using a network allocation vector(NAV) timer.

After determining that the channel is not used by other devices (thatis, that the channel is IDLE) during a DIFS (and performing backoff ifrequired), the STA1 may transmit a Ready-To-Send (RTS) frame to thesecond station STA2. Upon receiving the RTS frame, after a SIFS thesecond station STA2 may transmit a Clear-To-Send (CTS) frame as aresponse of the RTS frame. If Dual-CTS is enabled and the second stationSTA2 is an AP, the AP may send two CTS frames in response to the RTSframe: a first CTS frame in the legacy non-HT format, and a second CTSframe in the HT format.

When the third station STA3 receives the RTS frame, it may set a NAVtimer of the third station STA3 for a transmission duration ofsubsequently transmitted frames (for example, a duration of SIFS+CTSframe duration+SIFS+data frame duration+SIFS+ACK frame duration) usingduration information included in the RTS frame. When the third stationSTA3 receives the CTS frame, it may set the NAV timer of the thirdstation STA3 for a transmission duration of subsequently transmittedframes using duration information included in the CTS frame. Uponreceiving a new frame before the NAV timer expires, the third stationSTA3 may update the NAV timer of the third station STA3 by usingduration information included in the new frame. The third station STA3does not attempt to access the channel until the NAV timer expires.

When the STA1 receives the CTS frame from the second station STA2, itmay transmit a data frame to the second station STA2 after SIFS elapsesfrom a time when the CTS frame has been completely received. Uponsuccessfully receiving the data frame, the second station STA2 maytransmit an ACK frame as a response of the data frame after SIFSelapses.

When the NAV timer expires, the third station STA3 may determine whetherthe channel is busy using the carrier sensing. Upon determining that thechannel is not used by other devices during a DIFS after the NAV timerhas expired, the third station STA3 may attempt to access the channelafter a contention window according to a backoff process elapses.

When Dual-CTS is enabled, a station that has obtained a transmissionopportunity (TXOP) and that has no data to transmit may transmit aCF-End frame to cut short the TXOP. An AP receiving a CF-End framehaving a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) of the AP as a destinationaddress may respond by transmitting two more CF-End frames: a firstCF-End frame using Space Time Block Coding (STBC) and a second CF-Endframe using non-STBC. A station receiving a CF-End frame resets its NAVtimer to 0 at the end of the PPDU containing the CF-End frame.

FIG. 5 shows the second station STA2 transmitting an ACK frame toacknowledge the successful reception of a frame by the recipient.

The PHY entity for IEEE Std 802.11 μs based on Orthogonal FrequencyDivision Multiplexing (OFDM) or Orthogonal Frequency Division MultipleAccess (OFDMA). In either OFDM or OFDMA Physical (PHY) layers, a STA iscapable of transmitting and receiving PHY Protocol Data Units (PPDUs)that are compliant with the mandatory PHY specifications.

A PHY entity may provide support for 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and 160 MHzcontiguous channel widths and support for an 80+80 MHz non-contiguouschannel width. Each channel includes a plurality of subcarriers, whichmay also be referred to as tones.

A PHY entity may define fields denoted as Legacy Signal (L-SIG), SignalA (SIG-A), and Signal B (SIG-B) within which some necessary informationabout PHY Service Data Unit (PSDU) attributes are communicated. Forexample, a High Efficiency (HE) PHY entity may define an L-SIG field, anHE Signal A (HE-SIG-A) field, and an HE Signal B (HE-SIG-B) field.

The descriptions below, for sake of completeness and brevity, refer toOFDM-based 802.11 technology. Unless otherwise indicated, a stationrefers to a non-AP HE STA, and an AP refers to an HE AP.

In the IEEE Std 802.11ac, SIG-A and SIG-B fields are called VHT SIG-Aand VHT SIG-B fields. Hereinafter, IEEE Std 802.11ax SIG-A and SIG-Bfields are respectively referred to as HE-SIG-A and HE-SIG-B fields.

FIG. 6A illustrates an HE PPDU 600 according to an embodiment. Atransmitting station generates the HE PPDU frame 600 and transmits it toone or more receiving stations. The receiving stations receive, detect,and process the HE PPDU frame 600.

The HE PPDU frame 600 includes a Legacy Short Training Field (L-STF)602, a Legacy (i.e., a Non-High Throughput (Non-HT)) Long Training Field(L-LTF) 604, a Legacy Signal (L-SIG) field 606, which together comprisea legacy preamble 601 and a Repeated L-SIG field (RL-SIG) 608. The L-STF604 of the HE PPDU has a periodicity of 0.8 μs with 10 periods.

The HE PPDU frame 600 also includes an HE Signal A (HE-SIG-A) field 610,an HE Signal B (HE-SIG-B) field 612, an HE-STF 614, an HE-LTF 616, andan HE-Data field 618. In an embodiment, the HE PPDU frame 600 includes aplurality of HE-SIG-B fields 612 corresponding to different channels,and respective pluralities of HE-STFs 614, HE-LTFs 616, and HE-Datafields 618 corresponding to different channels or resource units.

The legacy preamble 601, the RL-SIG field 608, the HE-SIG-A field 610,and the HE-SIG-B field 612 when present, comprise a first part of the HEPPDU frame 600. In an embodiment, the first part of the HE PPDU frame600 is decoded using a 64-element Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT),having a basic subcarrier spacing of 312.5 KHz.

The HE-SIG-A field 610 is duplicated on each 20 MHz segment after thelegacy preamble to indicate common control information. The HE-SIG-Afield 610 includes a plurality of OFDM HE-SIG-A symbols 620 each havinga duration (including a Guard Interval (GI)) of 4 μs. A number of theHE-SIG-A symbols 620 in the HE-SIG-A field 610 is determined as either 2or 4 depending on a type of the HE PPDU 600. In an embodiment, anHE-SIG-A field 610 of an HE Extended Range Single User (SU) PPDU include4 HE-SIG-A symbols 620, and HE-SIG-A fields 610 of other types of HEPPDU include 2 HE-SIG-A symbols 620.

The HE-SIG-B field 612 is included in HE Multi-User (MU) PPDU(s). TheHE-SIG-B field 612 includes a plurality of OFDM HE-SIG-B symbols 622each having a duration including a GI of 4 μs. In embodiments, one ormore of HE_SU PPDUs, HE Tigger-based PPDUs, and HE Extended Range SUPPDUs do not include the HE-SIG-B field 612. A number of the HE-SIG-Bsymbols 622 in the HE-SIG-B field 612 is indicated by N_(HE-SIGB) in theHE-SIG-A field 610 and is variable.

When the HE PPDU 600 has a bandwidth of 40 MHz or more, the HE-SIG-Bfield 612 may be transmitted in first and second HE-SIG-B channels 1 and2. The HE-SIG-B field in the HE-SIG-B channel 1 is referred to as theHE-SIG-B1 field, and the HE-SIG-B field in the HE-SIG-B channel 2 isreferred to as the HE-SIG-B2 field. The HE-SIG-B1 field and theHE-SIG-B2 field are communicated using different 20 MHz bandwidths ofthe HE PPDU 600, and may contain different information. Within thisdocument, the term “HE-SIG-B field” may refer to an HE-SIG-B field of a20 MHz PPDU, or to either or both of an HE-SIG-B1 field or HE-SIG-B2field of a 40 MHz or more PPDU.

An HE-STF 614 of a non-trigger-based PPDU has a periodicity of 0.8 μswith 5 periods. A non-trigger-based PPDU is a PPDU that is not sent inresponse to a trigger frame. An HE-STF 614 of a trigger-based PPDU has aperiodicity of 1.6 μs with 5 periods. Trigger-based PPDUs include ULPPDUs sent in response to respective trigger frames.

The HE-LTF 616 includes one or more OFDM HE-LTF symbols 626 each havinga duration of 12.8 μs plus a Guard Interval (GI). The HE PPDU frame 600may support a 2×LTF mode and a 4×LTF mode. In the 2×LTF mode, an HE-LTFsymbol 626 excluding a Guard Interval (GI) is equivalent to modulatingevery other tone in an OFDM symbol of 12.8 μs excluding the GI, and thenremoving the second half of the OFDM symbol in a time domain. A numberof the HE-LTF symbols 626 in the HE-LTF field 616 is indicated byNH-LTF, and is equal to 1, 2, 4, 6, or 8.

The HE-Data field 618 includes one or more OFDM HE-Data symbols 628 eachhaving a duration of 12.8 μs plus a Guard Interval (GI). A number of theHE-Data symbols 628 in the HE-Data field 618 is indicated by N_(DATA)and is variable.

FIG. 6B shows a Table 1 indicating additional properties of the fieldsof the HE PPDU frame 600 of FIG. 6A, according to an embodiment.

The descriptions below, for sake of completeness and brevity, refer toOFDMA-based 802.11 technology. Unless otherwise indicated, a stationrefers to a non-AP HE STA, and an AP refers to an HE AP.

A SIFS time interval which is used to send responses to received framesand to transmit multiple frames within a transmit opportunity (TXOP)duration is defined differently for stations operating in a 2.4 GHz bandand a 5 GHz band. In a 2.4 GHz band, the SIFS interval for Non-HT and HTPPDUs is 10 μs. In a 5 GHz band, the SIFS interval for Non-HT, HT, andVHT PPDU is 16 μs. Note that VHT PPDUs are not transmitted on the 2.4GHz band.

Because the required baseband processing time for a frame does notchange with respect to operating carrier frequency (that is, a frametransmitted on the 2.4 GHz band takes the same baseband processing timewhen transmitted on the 5 GHz band), an additional time extension may beadded after the end of the frame to lengthen the interval between twoconsecutive frames when the frames are transmitted on the 2.4 GHz band.This time extension is denoted as a signal extension.

For Non-HT and HT PPDU operating in the 2.4 GHz, 6 μs of signalextension, T_(SE), is added to the end of the frame. After the signalextensions of T_(SE)=6 μs, the SIFS interval begins. That is, after aNon-HT station or HT station detects the end of a transmission on ashared wireless medium, the Non-HT station or HT station waits 6 μsbefore beginning the SIFS interval. This allows Non-HT and HT PPDUs tohave the same processing time regardless whether the STA is operating in2.4 GHz or 5 GHz.

An HE PPDU can be sent in the 2.4 GHz or the 5 GHz operation bands.However, as of this writing, an HE station receiving an HE PPDU in a 2.4GHz band does not currently add a signal extension after detecting theend of the HE PPDU. If the same SIFS 10 μs SIFS interval is used for theHE PPDU in the 2.4 GHz band, this would result HE stations be able tohave shorter time spacing between HE PPDUs compared to Non-HT and HTstations and compared to Non-HT and HT PPDUs.

Embodiments address issues related to differences in time spacingbetween HE PPDUs and non-HE PPDUs in a 2.4 GHz channel, and todifferences in time spacings between HE and non-HE stations receiving HEPPDUs in the 2.4 GHz channel. Embodiment may have different definitionsof a transmission time TXTIME for the HE PPDU depending on whether astation is HE capable or not.

Embodiments include an Option A in which, in the 2.4 GHz band, a lengthof an SIFS interval after an HE PPDU is changed and, in embodiments, atime gap is added to the HE PPDU.

Embodiments include an Option B in which, in the 2.4 GHz band, a lengthof the SIFS interval after an HE PPDU is not changed and a time gap anda signal extension are added to the HE PPDU.

Embodiments include an Option C in which, in the 2.4 GHz band, a lengthof the SIFS interval after an HE PPDU is not changed and the PacketExtension length is extended to include the Gap Time and also to be 6 μslonger.

Embodiments include an Option D in which, in the 2.4 GHz band, a lengthof the SIFS interval after an HE PPDU is not changed and a signalextension is added to the HE PPDU.

FIG. 7 includes a Table 2 that defines timing-related parameters for HEPPDU formats. Parameters defined include an IDFT/DFT period for pre-HEmodulated fields T_(DFT,Pre-HE), an IDFT/DFT period for an HE Data fieldT_(DFT,HE), a Guard Interval (GI) duration for a legacy preamble, RL-SIGfield, HE-SIG-A field, and HE-SIG-B field T_(GI,Pre-HE), a GI durationfor HE-LTF T_(GI,HE-LTF), a GI duration for an HE-Data fieldT_(GI,Data), a Base GI duration for the HE-Data field T_(GI1,Data), aDouble GI duration for the HE-Data field T_(GI2,Data), a Quadruple GIduration for the HE-Data field T_(GI4,Data), an OFDM symbol durationwith base GI T_(SYM1), an OFDM symbol duration with double GI T_(SYM2),an OFDM symbol duration with quadruple GI T_(SYM4), a Symbol interval ofData symbols T_(SYM), a Non-HT Short Training Field (STF) durationT_(L-STF), a Non-HT Long Training Field (LTF) duration T_(L-LTF), anNon-HT SIGNAL field duration T_(L-SIG), a Repeated non-HT SIGNAL fieldduration T_(RL-SIG), an HE-SIG-A field duration in an HE SU PPDU, HE MUPPDU, or HE trigger-based PPDU T_(HE-SIG-A), an HE-SIG-A field durationin an HE extended range SU PPDU T_(HE-SIG-A-R), an HE-STF duration foran HE trigger-based PPDU T_(HE-STF-T), an HE-STF field duration for anHE SU PPDU, HE extended range SU PPDU or HE MU PPDU T_(HE-STF-NT), aDuration of each 1× HE-LTF OFDM symbol without GI T_(HE-LTF-1X), aDuration of each 2× HE-LTF OFDM symbol without GI T_(HE-LTF-2X), aDuration of each 4× HE-LTF OFDM symbol without GI T_(HE-LTF-4X), aDuration of each OFDM symbol without GI in the HE-LTF field T_(HE-LTF),a Duration of each OFDM symbol including GI in the HE-LTF fieldT_(HE-LTF-SYM), a Duration of each OFDM symbol in the HE-SIG-B fieldT_(HE-SIG-B), a Number of bits in SERVICE field N_(service), a Number oftail bits per BCC encoder N_(tail), a Symbol duration including GI priorto an HE-STF T_(SYML), and a Duration of Packet Extension field T_(PE).

A HE PPDU may have a Packet Extension (PE) appended at the end of thePPDU, with possible durations being 0 μs, 4 μs, 8 μs, 12 μs, or 16 μs.The PE, when present, shall be transmitted with the same average poweras the Data field, and its content may be arbitrary.

The PE provides the recipient of the PPDU with additional processingtime at the end of an HE PPDU, and its duration is determined by boththe a-factor (i.e., the pre-FEC padding factor) value in the last OFDMsymbol(s) of the Data field, the maximum PE duration requested by therecipient for the signal bandwidth (or Resource Unit (RU) size), thenumber of spatial streams, and the constellation size of the currentPPDU, which is based on the Maximum PE capabilities as defined in an HECapabilities field.

For an HE PPDU, the maximum PE durations as defined by the Maximum PEcapabilities in a HE device are 0 μs, 8 μs, and 16 μs.

-   -   A 0 μs maximum PE duration means no PE is present.    -   An 8 μs maximum PE duration means that for an a-factor value of        1, 2, 3, or 4, a PE of 0 μs, 0 μs, 4 μs, or 8 μs, respectively,        is appended at the end of the PPDU.    -   A 16 μs maximum PE duration means that for an a-factor value of        1, 2, 3, or 4, a PE of 4 μs, 8 μs, 12 μs, or 16 μs,        respectively, is appended at the end of the PPDU.

For an HE MU PPDU, the AP computes the PE duration, T_(PE,u), for eachuser u, according to the common a-factor value among all users, theMaximum PE Duration capabilities, the RU size, the number of spatialstreams, and constellation size for the user u. The AP shall choose thelargest PE duration among all the users as the common PE duration of thecurrent HE MU PPDU as T_(PE)=max_(u)(T_(PE,u)) and then append the PE atthe end of the current HE MU PPDU, with duration T_(PE).

For an HE trigger-based PPDU, the AP indicates the common PE duration,T_(PE), for all the users in the Trigger frame. Each user, whenresponding to the Trigger frame with an HE trigger-based PPDU, shallappend a PE at the end of the current HE trigger-based PPDU, with aduration T_(PE). During the duration of T_(PE), the station shalltransmit signal with equal transmit power as rest of the PPDU. Thishelps 3^(rd) party stations performing carrier sensing of the mediumdetect energy during this time and aid in preventing a transition into acarrier lost receive state.

FIG. 8 includes a Table 3 showing a 3-bit Packet Extension field in anHE-SIG-A field of an HE PPDU, according to an embodiment. The PacketExtension field includes two bits for indicating the a-factor value andone PE Disambiguity bit.

The number N_(SYM) of OFDM symbols in the Data field of an HE PPDU maybe calculated as follows.

For an HE NDP PPDU, there is no Data field and N_(SYM)=0.

For an HE_SU or HE extended range SU PPDU using BCC encoding, the totalnumber N_(SYM) of OFDM symbols in the Data field is given by:

$\begin{matrix}{N_{SYM} = {m_{STBC}\left\lceil \frac{{8 \times {APEP\_ LENGT}H} + N_{SERVICE} + N_{TAIL}}{m_{STBC} \times N_{DBPS}} \right\rceil}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 1}\end{matrix}$

where m_(STBC) is equal to 2 when STBC is used, and 1 otherwise;N_(SERVICE) and N_(TAIL) are defined in Table 2 of FIG. 7; APEP_LENGTHis the value of the APEP_LENGTH parameter of a TXVECTOR; and N_(DBPS) isa number of data bits per symbol. The APEP_LENGTH may indicate a numberof octets in the Aggregate MAC Protocol Data Unit (A-MPDU) pre-EOFpadding carried in the PHY Service Data Unit (PSDU).

For an HE SU or HE extended range SU PPDU using LDPC encoding, the totalnumber of OFDM symbols in the Data field, N_(SYM), is given by:

Eq.  2 $N_{SYM} = \left\{ \begin{matrix}{{{m_{STBC}\left\lceil \frac{{8 \times APEP_{LENGTH}} + N_{SERVICE}}{m_{STBC} \times N_{DBPS}} \right\rceil} + m_{STBC}},} & \begin{matrix}{{if}\mspace{14mu} {extra}\mspace{14mu} {LDPC}\mspace{14mu} {symbol}} \\{{{required}\mspace{14mu} {and}\mspace{14mu} a} = 4}\end{matrix} \\{{m_{STBC}\left\lceil \frac{{8 \times APEP_{LENGTH}} + N_{SERVICE}}{m_{STBC} \times N_{DBPS}} \right\rceil},} & {otherwise}\end{matrix} \right.$

where ‘a’ is the a-factor computed under the assumption that an extraLDPC symbol is not required. If an extra LDPC symbol is required, thea-factor is updated to ‘new a-factor’ equal to (‘old a-factor’ mod 4)+1.

For an HE MU or HE trigger-based PPDU (including both MU-MIMO and OFDMAPPDU and PPDUs that use both MU-MIMO and OFDMA), the total number ofOFDM symbols in the Data field, N_(SYM), is determined by the largestnumber of OFDMA symbols required by allocated users.

FIGS. 9A and 9B shows an example of different inter-frame time intervalbetween HE PPDUs and Non-HT and HT PPDUs.

A SIFS time interval which is used to send responses to received framesand to transmit multiple frames within a transmit opportunity (TXOP)duration is defined differently for STAs operating in a 2.4 GHz band anda 5 GHz band. In the 2.4 GHz band, the SIFS interval for Non-HT and HTPPDUs are 10 μs.

In the 5 GHz band, the SIFS interval for Non-HT, HT, VHT, and HE PPDUsare 16 μs. Thus, as shown in FIG. 9A, in the 5 GHz band, the respectivespacings between a HT or VHT frame 902-5 and a subsequent non-HT frame904-5, the non-HT frame 904-5 and a subsequent first HE frame 906-5, andthe first HE frame 906-5 and a subsequent second HE frame 908-5 are allthe same.

Since the required baseband processing time for a frame does not changewith respect to operating carrier frequency (that is, with respect towhich of the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands is used), additional time extension isadded after the end of frames to lengthen the interval between twoconsecutive frames. This time extension is denoted as a signalextension, represents a period of subsequent non-transmission (that is,zero power transmitted into the medium) by a device performing atransmission, and in embodiments is implemented by adding the durationof the signal extension to a transmission time TXTIME computed for thetransmission.

For Non-HT and HT PPDU being transmitted in a 2.4 GHz band, 6 μs ofsignal extension, T_(SE), is added to the end of the frame. After theduration T_(SE) of the signal extension elapses after reception of theframe, a SIFS interval begins. This allows Non-HT and HT PPDUs beingreceived by a station to have the same processing time regardlesswhether the station is operating in the 2.4 GHz band or the 5 GHz band.

An HE PPDU can be sent in either of a 2.4 GHz or a 5 GHz operation band.However, an HE station according to the current draft of the standard atthis writing does not add a signal extension to an HE PPDU beingtransmitted in the 2.4 GHz band. If the same SIFS interval is used forHE PPDU in 2.4 GHz, this would result in shorter time spacing between HEPPDUs compared to Non-HT and HT PPDUs.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 9B, at the time of this writing, in the2.4 GHz band the spacings after an HT frame 902-24 and after a non-HTframe 904-24 would not be the same as the spacing after a first HE frame906-24 and a subsequent second HE frame 908-24 because the transmissiontime TXTIME determined for the first HE frame 906-24 would not includethe duration T_(SE) of the signal extension.

In an embodiment, the SIFS duration used by an HE station after an HEPPDUs is always 16 μs, regardless of whether a station is operating in a2.4 GHz band or a 5 GHz band. The SIFS duration will be different basedon which PPDU has been transmitted or received prior to the SIFSduration.

Embodiments under Option A, when operating in a 2.4 GHz band, change alength of an SIFS interval after an HE PPDU and may add a time gap tothe HE PPDU.

FIG. 10 shows an example of such operation. An Rx Node that is an HE STAwill wait for a signal extension of 6 μs and a SIFS interval of 10 μsafter an HT PPDU 1002 or a Non-HT PPDU 1004 is transmitted or received.The Rx Node that is an HE STA will wait for a SIFS interval of 16 μsafter an HE PPDU 1006 is transmitted or received, without use of anysignal extension time. The difference is that a signal extension isconsidered part of a frame, and included in the frames TXTIMEdetermination, whereas a SIFS duration is not.

In an embodiment, a gap time is added after a packet extension of an HEPPDU. FIG. 11 illustrates such an embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates an HE PPDU 1100 having a gap time, according to anembodiment. The HE PPDU 1100 includes a Legacy Short Training Field(L-STF) 1102, a Legacy Long Training Field (L-LTF) 1104, a Legacy Signal(L-SIG) field 1106, and a Repeated L-SIG field (RL-SIG) 1108. The HEPPDU frame 1100 also includes an HE-SIG-A field 1110, an optionalHE-SIG-B field 1112, an HE-STF 1114, an HE-LTF 1116, and an HE-Datafield 1118. These fields are as described for the corresponding fieldsin FIG. 6.

The HE PPDU 1100 further includes a Packet Extension 1120 containingarbitrary content and transmitted at a same average power level as therest of the HE PPDU 1100.

The total length of the meaningful signal portion of an HE PPDU may notalways be an integer multiple of 4 μs. This is primarily due to the 12.8μs data OFDM symbol duration and the various Guard Interval (i.e. cyclicprefix) times used in HE PPDUs. In particular, the symbols of the HE-LTF1116 and the symbols of the HE-Data field 1118 may each have durationsthat are not integer multiples of 4 μs.

All non-HT, HT, and VHT frames operating in a 2.4 GHz band (or in a 5GHz band) have a transmission time TXTIME (PPDU duration) in units of 4μs (excluding any signal extension time). In this embodiment, the HEPPDU TXTIME (excluding any signal extension time) is also an integermultiple of 4 μs. This allows all stations (including non-HE stations,that is, non-HT, HT, and VHT stations) to determine exactly the sameTXTIME for a received HE PPDU.

When the HE PPDU 1100 is received by an HE station, the HE stationdetermines that the received frame is an HE PPDU and therefore has exactknowledge of the TXTIME associated with the HE PPDU 1100, which may notbe a multiple of 4 μs. When the HE PPDU 1100 is received by a non-HEstation, the non-HE station may determine that the HE PPDU 1100 is oneof the legacy frame formats. However, the TXTIME computed by non-HEstation may always be an integer multiple of 4 μs. As a result, theTXTIME computed by a HE stations may differ from the TXTIME computed bynon-HE stations. This can lead to unfairness in medium access betweenthe stations.

In order to mitigate this problem, this embodiment adds a small time gap1122 after the packet extension that allows the total duration of the HEPPDU 1100 to be integer multiple of 4 μs, as shown in FIG. 11.

The change in the TXTIME duration for the HE PPDU 1100 requires changesin the equations for deriving packet extension length dis-ambiguity. Thepacket extension length dis-ambiguity is used to identify whether thelast potential OFDM symbol is part of the packet extension or a regulardata OFDM symbol. In an embodiment, the last potential OFDM symbol ofthe HE PPDU 1100 is part of the packet extension (and a PE Disambiguitybit in the HE-SIG-A is set to 1 to indicate such to receiving stations)when the following condition is met:

$\begin{matrix}{{{T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{X}{4} \right\rceil} - (X)} \right)} \geq T_{SYM}},{X = {T_{{HE}\text{-}PREAMBLE} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 3}\end{matrix}$

wherein T_(PE) is the duration of a Packet Extension (PE) 1120,T_(HE-PREAMBLE) is the duration of an HE preamble of the HE PPDU 1100,N_(SYM) is the number of symbols in the HE-Data field 1118, and T_(SYM)is the duration of a symbol of the HE-Data field 1118.

In another embodiment, the last potential OFDM symbol of the HE PPDU1100 is a part of the packet extension (and the PE Disambiguity bit isset to 1 to indicate such to receiving stations) when the followingcondition is met:

$\begin{matrix}{{{T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{X}{4} \right\rceil} - (X)} \right)} \geq T_{SYM}},{X = {{N_{{HE}\text{-}LTF}T_{{{HE}\text{-}LTF} - {SYM}}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 4}\end{matrix}$

wherein N_(HE-LTF) is a number of symbols in the HE-LTF 1116.

In another embodiment, the last potential OFDM symbol of the HE PPDU1100 is a part of the packet extension (and the PE Disambiguity bit isset to 1 to indicate such to receiving stations) when the followingcondition is met:

$\begin{matrix}{{{T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{X}{4} \right\rceil} - (X)} \right)} \geq T_{SYM}},{X = {T_{{LEG}\text{-}PREAMBLE} + T_{{HE}\text{-}PREAMBLE} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 5}\end{matrix}$

wherein T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is a duration of the legacy preamble of the HEPPDU 1100.

Based on a PE disambiguity field and an a-factor field of a PE of anHE-SIG-A field of the HE PPDU 1100, a station receiving the HE PPDU 1100shall compute the number of symbols N_(SYM) in the HE-Data field 1118and the duration T_(PE) of the Packet Extension.

In an embodiment, the TXTIME calculation for the HE PPDU is updated totake into account the time gap added at the end of HE PPDU.

When an HE PPDU is an HE SU PPDU and HE trigger-based PPDU, the value ofthe TXTIME parameter returned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shallbe calculated for the HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{L - {SIG}} + T_{{RL} - {SIG}} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A} + {4\left\lceil \frac{T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}{4} \right\rceil} + T_{PE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 6}\end{matrix}$

When the HE PPDU is an HE MU PPDU, the value of the TXTIME parameterreturned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shall be calculated forthe HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{L - {SIG}} + T_{{RL} - {SIG}} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A} + {N_{{HE} - {SIG} - B}T_{{HE} - {SIG} - B}} + {4\left\lceil \frac{T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}{4} \right\rceil} + T_{PE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 7}\end{matrix}$

When the HE PPDU is an HE extended range SU PPDU, the value of theTXTIME parameter returned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shall becalculated for the HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{L - {SIG}} + T_{{RL} - {SIG}} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A - E} + {4\left\lceil \frac{T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}{4} \right\rceil} + T_{PE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 8}\end{matrix}$

In the equations, a T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF)+T_(L-LTF) andT_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(HE-STF-T)+N_(HE-LTF)T_(HE-LTF-SYM) whenthe HE PPDU is an HE trigger-based PPDU and toT_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)T_(HE-LTF-SYM) otherwise. Table 2, TimingRelated Constants, of FIG. 7 provides definitions for T_(L-STF),T_(L-LTF), T_(HE-STF-T), T_(HE-STF-NT), T_(HE-LTF-SYM), T_(L-SIG),T_(RL-SIG), T_(HE-SIG-A), T_(HE-SIG-A-R), T_(HE-SIG-B), and T_(SYM).N_(HE-SIG-B) and N_(HE-LTF) are indicated by signaling in an HE-SIG-Afield of the HE-PPDU. T_(PE) is the packet extension duration.

An L_LENGTH field of the L-SIG field of the HE PPDU is computed based onthe following equation. The L-SIG field is used to communicate rate andlength information. In an HE PPDU, the RATE field shall be set to thevalue representing 6 Mb/s. The LENGTH field shall be set to the valuegiven by|

$\begin{matrix}{{L\_ LENGTH} = {{\left\lceil \frac{{TXTIME} - 20}{4} \right\rceil \times 3} - 3 - m}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 9}\end{matrix}$

Or equivalently (when TXTIME is always given in units of 4 μs):

$\begin{matrix}{{L\_ LENGTH} = {{\left( \frac{{TXTIME} - 20}{4} \right) \times 3} - 3 - m}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 10}\end{matrix}$

where TXTIME (in μs) is defined in the TXTIME and PSDU_LENGTHcalculation, and m is one when the HE PPDU is an HE MU PPDU or an HEextended range SU PPDU and is two otherwise.

T_(SE) is 0 μs when a station is operating in a 5 GHz band, and 6 μswhen the stations is operating in a 2.4 GHz band.

In an embodiment, the packet extension duration is extended by a smalltime gap that allows the total HE PPDU duration to be integer multipleof 4 μs, as shown in FIG. 12. The HE PPDU 1200 of FIG. 12 includes aLegacy Short Training Field (L-STF) 1202, a Legacy Long Training Field(L-LTF) 1204, a Legacy Signal (L-SIG) field 1206, and a Repeated L-SIGfield (RL-SIG) 1208. The HE PPDU frame 1200 also includes an HE-SIG-Afield 1210, an optional HE-SIG-B field 1212, an HE-STF 1214, an HE-LTF1216, and an HE-Data field 1218. These fields are as described for thecorresponding fields in FIG. 6.

The HE PPDU 1200 further includes a Packet Extension 1220 containingarbitrary content and transmitted at a same average power level as therest of the HE PPDU 1200. The Packet Extension 1220 includes a time gap,and a duration of the Packet Extension 1220 is denoted as T_(PE-E).

The difference between a time gap shown in the embodiment of FIG. 11 andthe extended packet extension 1220 shown in the embodiment of FIG. 12 isthat a station transmits energy during the time gap in the extendedpacket extension 1220 and does not transmit energy during the time gap1122 of FIG. 11. In the embodiment of FIG. 12, a station shall transmita non-zero power during the time gap, ideally with the same transmitpower as the rest of HE PPDU. This allows 3rd party stations to detecteven the time gap during carrier sensing.

The change in the TXTIME duration for the HE PPDU 1200 requires changesin the equations for deriving packet extension length dis-ambiguity. Thepacket extension length dis-ambiguity is used to identify whether thelast potential OFDM symbol is a packet extension of a regular data OFDMsymbol. In an embodiment, the last potential OFDM symbol of the HE PPDU1200 is packet extension (and a PE Disambiguity bit in the HE-SIG-A isset to 1 to indicate such to receiving stations) when the conditionT_(PE-E)≥T_(SYM) is met, and otherwise the PE Disambiguity subfieldshall be set to 0. T_(PE-E) is the extended PE duration and given by anyone of:

$\begin{matrix}{{T_{{PE} - E} = {T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{X}{4} \right\rceil} - (X)} \right)}},{X = {{N_{{HE} - {LTF}}T_{{HE} - {LTF} - {SYM}}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 11} \\{{T_{{PE} - E} = {T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{X}{4} \right\rceil} - (X)} \right)}},{X = {T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 12} \\{{T_{{PE} - E} = {T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{X}{4} \right\rceil} - (X)} \right)}},{X = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 13}\end{matrix}$

Based on a PE disambiguity field and an a-factor field of a PE field ofan HE-SIG-A field of the HE PPDU 1200, a station receiving the HE PPDU1200 shall compute the number of symbols N_(SYM) in the HE-Data field1218 and the duration T_(PE) of the Packet Extension.

In the embodiment, the TXTIME calculation for the HE PPDU 1200 isupdated to take into account the extended packet extension by the timegap at the end of HE PPDU 1200. When an HE PPDU is an HE_SU PPDU or HEtrigger-based PPDU, the value of the TXTIME parameter returned by thePLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shall be calculated for the HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG}\text{-}{PREAMBLE}} + T_{L\text{-}{SIG}} + T_{{RL}\text{-}{SIG}} + T_{{HE}\text{-}{SIG}\text{-}A} + T_{{HE}\text{-}PREAMBLE} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}} + T_{{PE}\text{-}E}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 14}\end{matrix}$

When an HE PPDU is an HE MU PPDU, the value of the TXTIME parameterreturned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shall be calculated forthe HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG}\text{-}{PREAMBLE}} + T_{L\text{-}{SIG}} + T_{{RL}\text{-}{SIG}} + T_{{HE}\text{-}{SIG}\text{-}A} + {N_{{HE}\text{-}{SIG}\text{-}B}T_{{HE}\text{-}{SIG}\text{-}B}} + T_{{HE}\text{-}PREAMBLE} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}} + T_{{PE}\text{-}E}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 15}\end{matrix}$

When an HE PPDU is an HE extended range SU PPDU, the value of the TXTIMEparameter returned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shall becalculated for the HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG}\text{-}{PREAMBLE}} + T_{L\text{-}{SIG}} + T_{{RL}\text{-}{SIG}} + T_{{HE}\text{-}{SIG}\text{-}A} + T_{{HE}\text{-}{SIG}\text{-}A\text{-}E} + T_{{HE}\text{-}PREAMBLE} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}} + T_{{PE}\text{-}E}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 16}\end{matrix}$

In the equations, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF) T_(L-LTF) andT_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(HE-ST-T)+N_(HE-LTF)T_(HE-LTF-SYM) whenthe HE PPDU is an HE trigger-based PPDU and toT_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)T_(HE-LTF-SYM) otherwise. Table 2, TimingRelated Constants, of FIG. 7 provides definitions for T_(L-STF),T_(L-LTF), T_(HE-STF-T), T_(HE-STF-NT), T_(HE-LTF-SYM), T_(L-SIG),T_(RL-SIG), T_(HE-SIG-A), T_(HE-SIG-A-R), T_(HE-SIG-B), and T_(SYM).N_(HE-SIG-B) and N_(HE-LTF) are indicated signaling in an HE-SIG-A fieldof the HE-PPDU. T_(PE-E) is the extended packet extension duration.

An L_LENGTH field of the L-SIG field of the HE PPDU 1200 is computedbased on the following equation. The L-SIG field is used to communicaterate and length information. In an HE PPDU, the RATE field shall be setto the value representing 6 Mb/s. The LENGTH field shall be set to thevalue given by|

$\begin{matrix}{{L\_ LENGTH} = {{\left\lceil \frac{{TXTIME} - 20}{4} \right\rceil \times 3} - 3 - m}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 17}\end{matrix}$

Or equivalently (when TXTIME is always given in units of 4 μs):

$\begin{matrix}{{L\_ LENGTH} = {{\left( \frac{{TXTIME} - 20}{4} \right) \times 3} - 3 - m}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 18}\end{matrix}$

where TXTIME (in μs) is defined in the TXTIME and PSDU LENGTHcalculation, and m is one when the HE PPDU is an HE_MU PPDU or an HEextended range SU PPDU and is two otherwise.

Embodiments under Option B, when operating in a 2.4 GHz band, add asignal extension after an HE PPDU and may add a time gap to the HE PPDU.

FIG. 13 illustrates inter-frame time intervals between Non-HT, HT, andHE PPDUs in a 2.4 GHz band, according to an embodiment. In theembodiment of FIG. 13, a SIFS remains 10 μs and a Signal Extension and,in an embodiment, a Gap Time are added after HE PPDUs being transmittedin the 2.4 GHz band. As a result, a total inter-frame interval after anHE PPDUs is always 16 μs (i.e., a signal extension of 6 μs plus a SIFSof 10 μs in the 2.4 GHz band, and a SIFS of 16 μs in a 5 GHz band).

FIG. 13 shows that an Rx Node will wait for a signal extension of 6 μsand a SIFS interval of 10 μs after an HT PPDU 1302 or a Non-HT PPDU1304. An Rx Node will wait for signal extension of 6 μs and a SIFSinterval of 10 μs after a HE PPDU 1306.

FIG. 14 illustrates an HE PPDU 1400 having a gap time, according to anembodiment. The HE PPDU 1400 includes a Legacy Short Training Field(L-STF) 1402, a Legacy Long Training Field (L-LTF) 1404, a Legacy Signal(L-SIG) field 1406, and a Repeated L-SIG field (RL-SIG) 1408. The HEPPDU frame 1400 also includes an HE-SIG-A field 1410, an optionalHE-SIG-B field 1412, an HE-STF 1414, an HE-LTF 1416, and an HE-Datafield 1418. These fields are as described for the corresponding fieldsin FIG. 6.

The HE PPDU 1400 further includes a Packet Extension 1420 containingarbitrary content and transmitted at a same average power level as therest of the HE PPDU 1400, a gap 1422, and a signal extension 1424.During the signal extension 1424, no energy is transmitted into thechannel by the station transmitting the HE PPDU 1400.

In an embodiment, because a total length of the meaningful signalportion of the HE PPDU may always not be integer multiple of 4 μs, asdescribed with respect to FIG. 11, the gap 1422 may be added to make theHE PPDU effective duration (TXTIME-Signal Extension time) an integermultiple of 4 μs. This allows all stations (include non-HE stations) todetermine exactly the same TXTIME for a frame of a received HE PPDU.

When an HE PPDU is received by an HE station, the HE station knows thatthe received frame is a HE PPDU and therefore has the exact knowledge ofthe TXTIME associated with it. When an HE PPDU is received by a non-HEstation, the non-HE station may believe the HE PPDU is one of the legacyframe formats. However, if the TXTIME computed by legacy STAs is alwaysan integer multiple of 4 μs, then computed TXTIME between HE-STAs andlegacy STAs may be different. This can lead to unfairness in mediumaccess between the STAs. Adding the gap 1422 mitigates this unfairness.The gap 1422 after the packet extension and before any signal extensionallows the total HE PPDU duration minus the duration of the signalextension to be integer multiple of 4 μs.

The gap 1422 will be of sufficient time duration that a duration fromthe beginning of the L-STF 1402 to end of the gap 1422 shall be integermultiple of 4 μs.

The signal extension is 6 μs when the station is operating in a 2.4 GHzand 0 μs when the stations is operating in a 5 GHz band.

The change in the TXTIME duration for the HE PPDU 1400 requires changesin the equations for deriving packet extension length dis-ambiguity. Thepacket extension length dis-ambiguity is used to identify whether thelast potential OFDM symbol is a packet extension of a regular data OFDMsymbol.

In an embodiment, the last potential OFDM symbol of the HE PPDU 1400 ispart of a packet extension (and a PE Disambiguity bit in the HE-SIG-A isset to 1 to indicate such to receiving stations) when the followingcondition is met:

$\begin{matrix}{{{T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{X}{4} \right\rceil} - (X)} \right)} \geq T_{SYM}},{X = {T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 19}\end{matrix}$

wherein T_(PE) is the duration of a Packet Extension (PE) 1420,T_(HE-PREAMBLE) is the duration of an HE preamble of the HE PPDU 1400,N_(SYM) is the number of symbols in the HE-Data field 1418, and T_(SYM)is the duration of a symbol of the HE-Data field 1418.

In another embodiment, the last potential OFDM symbol of the HE PPDU1400 is part of the packet extension (and the PE Disambiguity bit is setto 1 to indicate such to receiving stations) when the followingcondition is met:

$\begin{matrix}{{{T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{X}{4} \right\rceil} - (X)} \right)} \geq T_{SYM}},{X = {{N_{{HE} - {LTF}}T_{{HE} - {LTF} - {SYM}}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 20}\end{matrix}$

wherein N_(HE-LTF) is a number of symbols in the HE-LTF 1416.

In another embodiment, the last potential OFDM symbol of the HE PPDU1400 is part of the packet extension (and the PE Disambiguity bit is setto 1 to indicate such to receiving stations) when the followingcondition is met:

$\begin{matrix}{{{T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{X}{4} \right\rceil} - (X)} \right)} \geq T_{SYM}},{X = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 21}\end{matrix}$

wherein T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is a duration of the legacy preamble of the HEPPDU 1400.

Based on a PE disambiguity field and an a-factor field of a PE field ofan HE-SIG-A field 1410 of the HE PPDU 1400, a station receiving the HEPPDU 1400 shall compute the number of symbols N_(SYM) in the HE-Datafield 1418 and the duration T_(PE) of the Packet Extension 1420.

In the embodiment, the TXTIME calculation for the HE PPDU is updated totake into account the extended packet extension by the time gap at theend of HE PPDU.

When an HE PPDU is an HE SU PPDU or HE trigger-based PPDU, the value ofthe TXTIME parameter returned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shallbe calculated for an HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{L - {SIG}} + T_{{RL} - {SIG}} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A} + {4\left\lceil \frac{T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}{4} \right\rceil} + T_{PE} + T_{SE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 22}\end{matrix}$

When an HE PPDU is an HE MU PPDU, the value of the TXTIME parameterreturned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shall be calculated forthe HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{L - {SIG}} + T_{{RL} - {SIG}} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A} + {N_{{HE} - {SIG} - B}T_{{HE} - {SIG} - B}} + {4\left\lceil \frac{T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}{4} \right\rceil} + T_{PE} + T_{SE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 23}\end{matrix}$

When an HE PPDU is an HE extended range SU PPDU, the value of the TXTIMEparameter returned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shall becalculated for the HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{L - {SIG}} + T_{{RL} - {SIG}} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A - E} + {4\left\lceil \frac{T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}{4} \right\rceil} + T_{PE} + T_{SE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 24}\end{matrix}$

In the equations, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF) T_(L-LTF) andT_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(HE-ST-T)+N_(HE-LTF)T_(HE-LTF-SYM) whenthe HE PPDU is an HE trigger-based PPDU and toT_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)T_(HE-LTF-SYM) otherwise. Table 2, TimingRelated Constants, of FIG. 7 provides definitions for T_(L-STF),T_(L-LTF), T_(HE-STF-T), T_(HE-STF-NT), T_(HE-LTF-SYM), T_(L-SIG),T_(RL-SIG), T_(HE-SIG-A), T_(HE-SIG-A-R), T_(HE-SIG-B), and T_(SYM).N_(HE-SIG-B) and N_(HE-LTF) are indicated signaling in an HE-SIG-A fieldof the HE-PPDU. T_(PE) is the packet extension duration. T_(SE) is 0 μswhen a station is operating in a 5 GHz band, and 6 μs when the stationis operating in a 2.4 GHz band.

An L_LENGTH field of the L-SIG field of the HE PPDU 1400 is computedbased on the following equation. The L-SIG field is used to communicaterate and length information. In an HE PPDU, the RATE field shall be setto the value representing 6 Mb/s. The T_(SE)=6 μs in the 2.4 GHz band issubtracted out during the L_LENGTH value calculation from the TXTIME ofthe HE PPDU. The LENGTH field shall be set to the value given by:

$\begin{matrix}{{L\_ LENGTH} = {{\left\lceil \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - 20}{4} \right\rceil \times 3} - 3 - m}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 25}\end{matrix}$

Or equivalently (when TXTIME-T_(SE) is always given in units of 4 μs):

$\begin{matrix}{{L\_ LENGTH} = {{\left( \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - 20}{4} \right) \times 3} - 3 - m}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 26}\end{matrix}$

where TXTIME (in μs) is defined in the TXTIME and PSDU LENGTHcalculation, and m is one when the HE PPDU is an HE MU PPDU or an HEextended range SU PPDU and is two otherwise. T_(SE) is 0 μs when astation is operating in a 5 GHz band, and 6 μs when the station isoperating in a 2.4 GHz band.

FIG. 15 illustrates an HE PPDU 1500 having packet extension extended bya gap time and having a signal extension, according to an embodiment. Inthe HE PPDU 1500, packet extension duration is extended with a smalltime gap that allows the total duration of the HE PPDU 1500, exclusiveof the signal extension, to be integer multiple of 4 μs. A packetextension duration of the extended packet extension is denoted asT_(PE-E).

The HE PPDU 1500 includes a Legacy Short Training Field (L-STF) 1502, aLegacy Long Training Field (L-LTF) 1504, a Legacy Signal (L-SIG) field1506, and a Repeated L-SIG field (RL-SIG) 1508. The HE PPDU frame 1500also includes an HE-SIG-A field 1510, an optional HE-SIG-B field 1512,an HE-STF 1514, an HE-LTF 1516, and an HE-Data field 1518. These fieldsare as described for the corresponding fields in FIG. 6.

The HE PPDU 1500 further includes a Packet Extension 1520 containingarbitrary content and transmitted at a same average power level as therest of the HE PPDU 1500, and a signal extension 1524. During the signalextension 1524, no energy is transmitted by the station transmitting theHE PPDU 1500.

The change in the TXTIME duration for the HE PPDU 1500 requires changesin the equations for deriving packet extension length dis-ambiguity. Thepacket extension length dis-ambiguity is used to identify whether thelast potential OFDM symbol is a packet extension of a regular data OFDMsymbol. In an embodiment, the last potential OFDM symbol of the HE PPDU1500 is part of a packet extension (and a PE Disambiguity bit in theHE-SIG-A is set to 1 to indicate such to receiving stations) when thecondition T_(PE-E)≥T_(SYM) is met, and otherwise the PE Disambiguitysubfield shall be set to 0.

T_(PE-E) is the extended PE duration and given by any one of:

$\begin{matrix}{{T_{{PE} - E} = {T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{X}{4} \right\rceil} - (X)} \right)}},{X = {{N_{{HE} - {LTF}}T_{{HE} - {LTF} - {SYM}}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 27} \\{{T_{{PE} - E} = {T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{X}{4} \right\rceil} - (X)} \right)}},{X = {T_{{HE} - {PEAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 28} \\{{T_{{PE} - E} = {T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{X}{4} \right\rceil} - (X)} \right)}},{X = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 29}\end{matrix}$

Based on a PE disambiguity field and an a-factor field of a PE field ofan HE-SIG-A field of the HE PPDU 1500, a station receiving the HE PPDU1500 shall compute the number of symbols N_(SYM) in the HE-Data field1518 and the duration T_(PE) of the Packet Extension.

In the embodiment, the TXTIME calculation for the HE PPDU is updated totake into account the extended packet extension by the time gap at theend of HE PPDU. T

When an HE PPDU is an HE SU PPDU or HE trigger-based PPDU, the value ofthe TXTIME parameter returned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shallbe calculated for an HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG}\text{-}{PREAMBLE}} + T_{L\text{-}{SIG}} + T_{{RL}\text{-}{SIG}} + T_{{HE}\text{-}{SIG}\text{-}A} + T_{{HE}\text{-}PREAMBLE} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}} + T_{{PE}\text{-}E} + T_{SE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 30}\end{matrix}$

When an HE PPDU is an HE MU PPDU, the value of the TXTIME parameterreturned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shall be calculated forthe HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG}\text{-}{PREAMBLE}} + T_{L\text{-}{SIG}} + T_{{RL}\text{-}{SIG}} + T_{{HE}\text{-}{SIG}\text{-}A} + T_{{HE}\text{-}PREAMBLE} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}} + T_{{PE}\text{-}E} + T_{SE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 31}\end{matrix}$

When an HE PPDU is an HE extended range SU PPDU, the value of the TXTIMEparameter returned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shall becalculated for the HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG}\text{-}{PREAMBLE}} + T_{L\text{-}{SIG}} + T_{{RL}\text{-}{SIG}} + T_{{HE}\text{-}{SIG}\text{-}A} + T_{{HE}\text{-}{SIG}\text{-}A\text{-}E} + T_{{HE}\text{-}PREAMBLE} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}} + T_{{PE}\text{-}E} + T_{SE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 32}\end{matrix}$

In the equations, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF)+T_(L-LTF) andT_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(HE-ST-T)+N_(HE-LTF)+T_(HE-LTF-SYM) whenthe HE PPDU is an HE trigger-based PPDU and toT_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)T_(HE-LTF-SYM) otherwise. Table 2, TimingRelated Constants, of FIG. 7 provides definitions for T_(L-STF),T_(L-LTF), T_(HE-STF-T), T_(HE-STF-NT), T_(HE-LTF-SYM), T_(L-SIG),T_(RL-SIG), T_(HE-SIG-A), T_(HE-SIG-A-R), T_(HE-SIG-B), and T_(SYM).N_(HE-SIG-B) and N_(HE-LTF) are indicated signaling in an HE-SIG-A fieldof the HE-PPDU. T_(PE-E) is the extended packet extension duration,T_(SE) is 0 μs when operating in a 5 GHz band and 6 μs when operating ina 2.4 GHz band.

An L_LENGTH field of the L-SIG field of the HE PPDU 1500 is computedbased on the following equation. The L-SIG field is used to communicaterate and length information. In an HE PPDU, the RATE field shall be setto the value representing 6 Mb/s. The LENGTH field shall be set to thevalue given by|

$\begin{matrix}{{L\_ LENGTH} = {{\left\lceil \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - 20}{4} \right\rceil \times 3} - 3 - m}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 33}\end{matrix}$

Or equivalently (when TXTIME is always given in units of 4 μs):

$\begin{matrix}{{L\_ LENGTH} = {{\left( \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - 20}{4} \right) \times 3} - 3 - m}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 34}\end{matrix}$

where TXTIME (in μs) is defined in the TXTIME and PSDU LENGTHcalculation, and m is one when the HE PPDU is an HE MU PPDU or an HEextended range SU PPDU and is two otherwise. T_(SE) is 0 μs when astation is operating in a 5 GHz band, and 6 μs when the station isoperating in a 2.4 GHz band.

Embodiments under Option C, when operating in a 2.4 GHz band, do notchange a length of the SIFS interval after an HE PPDU but use a PacketExtension length extended to be 6 μs longer, and which may include a gaptime.

In embodiment, a packet extension at the end of an HE PPDUs is extendedto that an effective inter frame interval, always 16 μs, after an HEPPDU, the 16 μs including an additional packet extension duration of 6μs and a SIFS of 10 μs in a 2.4 GHz band, and including an SIFS of 16 μsin a 5 GHz band.

FIG. 16 illustrates inter-frame time intervals between Non-HT, HT, andHE PPDUs in a 2.4 GHz band, according to an embodiment. In theembodiment of FIG. 16, a SIFS remains 10 μs and a Signal Extension and,in embodiments, Gap Time are appended to HE PPDUs being transmitted inthe 2.4 GHz band. As a result, a total inter frame interval between HEPPDU is 16 μs (i.e., a signal extension of 6 μs plus a SIFS of 10 μs inthe 2.4 GHz band, and a SIFS of 16 μs in a 5 GHz band).

FIG. 16 shows a an Rx Node will wait for a signal extension of 6 μs anda SIFS interval of 10 μs after an HT PPDU 1602 or a Non-HT PPDU 1604. AnRx Node will wait for a SIFS interval of 10 μs after a first HE PPDU1606. However, the first HE PPDU 1606 includes a 6 μs extension 1606E toa packet extension of the HE PPDU 1606, which creates an effective delayof 16 μs.

To ensure that all stations (that is, both HE and non-HE stations)compute the same effective TXTIME, the L_LENGTH signaling in the L-SIGof the HE PPDU should not take into account the extra 6 μs of packetextension added to HE PPDUs in the 2.4 GHz band.

FIG. 17 illustrates an HE PPDU 1700 in which the packet extensionduration is further increased by a small time gap, in addition to the 6μs mentioned above, when a station is operating in 2.4 GHz band,according to an embodiment. Increasing the packet extension duration bythe small time gap makes that total HE PPDU duration, exclusive of theadditional 6 μs of packet extension, an integer multiple of 4 μs. Thenew packet extension duration is denoted as T_(PE-E)6 μs.

The HE PPDU 1700 includes an L-STF 1702, an L-LTF 1704, an L-SIG field1706, and an RL-SIG 1708. The HE PPDU frame 1700 also includes anHE-SIG-A field 1710, an optional HE-SIG-B field 1712, an HE-STF 1714, anHE-LTF 1716, and an HE-Data field 1718. These fields are as describedfor the corresponding fields in FIG. 6.

The HE PPDU 1700 further includes a Packet Extension 1720 containingarbitrary content. In the embodiment of FIG. 17, the stationtransmitting the HE PPDU 1700 shall transmit at a non-zero power duringthe entire extended packet extension 1720, ideally with the sametransmit power as the rest of HE PPDU 1700.

The change in the TXTIME duration for the HE PPDU 1700 requires changesin the equations for deriving packet extension length dis-ambiguity. Thepacket extension length dis-ambiguity is used to identify whether thelast potential OFDM symbol is a packet extension of a regular data OFDMsymbol. In an embodiment, the last potential OFDM symbol of the HE PPDU1700 is packet extension (and a PE Disambiguity bit in the HE-SIG-A isset to 1 to indicate such to receiving stations) when the conditionT_(PE-E)≥T_(SYM) is met, and otherwise the PE Disambiguity subfieldshall be set to 0.

T_(PE-E) is the extended PE duration and given by any one of:

$\begin{matrix}{{T_{{PE} - E} = {T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{X}{4} \right\rceil} - (X)} \right)}},{X = {{N_{{HE} - {LTF}}T_{{HE} - {LTF} - {SYM}}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 35} \\{{T_{{PE} - E} = {T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{X}{4} \right\rceil} - (X)} \right)}},{X = {T_{{HE} - {PEAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 36} \\{{T_{{PE} - E} = {T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{X}{4} \right\rceil} - (X)} \right)}},{X = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}}}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 37}\end{matrix}$

Based on a PE disambiguity field and an a-factor field of a PE field ofan HE-SIG-A field of the HE PPDU 1700, a station receiving the HE PPDU1700 shall compute the number of symbols N_(SYM) in the HE-Data field1718 and the duration T_(PE) of the Packet Extension. The total packetextension duration is T_(PE-E)+T_(SE).

In the embodiment, the TXTIME calculation for the HE PPDU 1700 isupdated to take into account the extended packet extension by the timegap at the end of HE PPDU 1700.

When an HE PPDU is an HE SU PPDU or HE trigger-based PPDU, the value ofthe TXTIME parameter returned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shallbe calculated for the HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{L - {SIG}} + T_{{RL} - {SIG}} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A} + T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}} + T_{{PE} - E} + T_{SE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 38}\end{matrix}$

When an HE PPDU is an HE MU PPDU, the value of the TXTIME parameterreturned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shall be calculated forthe HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{L - {SIG}} + T_{{RL} - {SIG}} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A} + {N_{{HE} - {SIG} - B}T_{{HE} - {SIG} - B}} + T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}} + T_{{PE} - E} + T_{SE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 39}\end{matrix}$

When an HE PPDU is an HE extended range SU PPDU, the value of the TXTIMEparameter returned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shall becalculated for the HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{L - {SIG}} + T_{{RL} - {SIG}} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A - E} + T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}} + T_{{PE} - E} + T_{SE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 40}\end{matrix}$

An L_LENGTH field of the L-SIG field of the HE PPDU 1700 is computedbased on the following equation. The L-SIG field is used to communicaterate and length information. In an HE PPDU, the RATE field shall be setto the value representing 6 Mb/s. The T_(SE)=6 μs is subtracted outduring the L_LENGTH value calculation from the TXTIME of the HE PPDU.The LENGTH field shall be set to the value given by|

$\begin{matrix}{{L\_ LENGTH} = {{\left\lceil \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - 20}{4} \right\rceil \times 3} - 3 - m}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 41}\end{matrix}$

Or equivalently (when TXTIME-T_(SE) is always given in units of 4 μs):

$\begin{matrix}{{L\_ LENGTH} = {{\left( \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - 20}{4} \right) \times 3} - 3 - m}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 42}\end{matrix}$

where TXTIME (in μs) is defined in the TXTIME and PSDU_LENGTHcalculation, and m is one when the HE PPDU is an HE MU PPDU or an HEextended range SU PPDU and is two otherwise. T_(SE) is 0 μs when astation is operating in a 5 GHz band, and 6 μs when the station isoperating in a 2.4 GHz band.

Embodiments under Option D, when operating in a 2.4 GHz band, do notchange a length of the SIFS interval after an HE PPDU and add a signalextension after the HE PPDU.

Embodiments in Option D do not resolve the difference in TXTIMEcalculation between HE stations and non-HE stations.

FIG. 18 illustrates an HE PPDU 1800 having a signal extension, accordingto an embodiment. The HE PPDU 1800 includes an L-STF 1802, an L-LTF1804, an L-SIG field 1806, and an RL-SIG 1808. The HE PPDU frame 1800also includes an HE-SIG-A field 1810, an optional HE-SIG-B field 1812,an HE-STF 1814, an HE-LTF 1816, and an HE-Data field 1818. These fieldsare as described for the corresponding fields in FIG. 6.

The HE PPDU 1800 further includes a Packet Extension 1820 containingarbitrary content. In the embodiment of FIG. 18, the stationtransmitting the HE PPDU 1800 shall transmit at a non-zero power duringthe entire packet extension 1820, ideally with the same transmit poweras the rest of HE PPDU 1800.

The HE PPDU 1800 further includes a signal extension 1824. During thesignal extension 1824, no energy is transmitted by the stationtransmitting the HE PPDU 1800.

The PE Disambiguity subfield of the Packet Extension field shall be setto 1 if the condition in Equation 43, below, is met, otherwise it shallbe set to 0:

$\begin{matrix}{{T_{PE} + \left( {{4\left\lceil \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - 20}{4} \right\rceil} - \left( {{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - 20} \right)} \right)} \geq T_{SYM}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 43}\end{matrix}$

where T_(PE) is a duration of the PE 1820, T_(SYM) is a duration ofsymbols in a Data field 1818 as defined in Table 2, TXTIME (in μs) is atransmit time of the HE PPDU 1800, and T_(SE) is a duration of SignalExtension.

Based on a PE disambiguity field and an a-factor field of a PE field ofan HE-SIG-A 1810 field of the HE PPDU 1800, a station receiving the HEPPDU 1800 shall compute the number of symbols N_(SYM) in the HE-Datafield 1818 and the duration T_(PE) of the Packet Extension 1820.

In the embodiment, the TXTIME calculation for the HE PPDU 1800 isupdated to take into account the added signal extension at the end of HEPPDU 1800.

When an HE PPDU is an HE SU PPDU or HE trigger-based PPDU, the value ofthe TXTIME parameter returned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shallbe calculated for the HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{L - {SIG}} + T_{{RL} - {SIG}} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A} + T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}} + T_{PE} + T_{SE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 44}\end{matrix}$

When an HE PPDU is an HE MU PPDU, the value of the TXTIME parameterreturned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shall be calculated forthe HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{L - {SIG}} + T_{{RL} - {SIG}} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A} + {N_{{HE} - {SIG} - B}T_{{HE} - {SIG} - B}} + T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}} + T_{PE} + T_{SE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 45}\end{matrix}$

When an HE PPDU is an HE extended range SU PPDU, the value of the TXTIMEparameter returned by the PLME-TXTIME.confirm primitive shall becalculated for the HE PPDU using:

$\begin{matrix}{{TXTIME} = {T_{{LEG} - {PREAMBLE}} + T_{L - {SIG}} + T_{{RL} - {SIG}} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A} + T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A - E} + T_{{HE} - {PREAMBLE}} + {N_{SYM}T_{SYM}} + T_{PE} + T_{SE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 46}\end{matrix}$

In the equations, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF)+T_(L-LTF) andT_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(HE-ST-T)+N_(HE-LTF)T_(HE-LTF-SYM) whenthe HE PPDU is an HE trigger-based PPDU and toT_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)T_(HE-LTF-SYM) otherwise. Table 2, TimingRelated Constants, of FIG. 7 provides definitions for T_(L-STF),T_(L-LTF), T_(HE-STF-T), T_(HE-STF-NT), T_(HE-LTF-SYM), T_(L-SIG),T_(RL-SIG), T_(HE-SIG-A), T_(HE-SIG-A-R), T_(HE-SIG-B), and T_(SYM).N_(HE-SIG-B) and N_(HE-LTF) are indicated signaling in an HE-SIG-A fieldof the HE-PPDU. T_(PE) is the packet extension duration. T_(SE) is 0 μswhen operating in a 5 GHz band and 6 μs when operating in a 2.4 GHzband.

Non-HE-capable stations (i.e., non-HE stations) may compute a TXTIME ofa received HE PPDU to be slightly larger than that computed byHE-capable stations. The TXTIME calculation error in the computation ofTXTIME by the non-HE stations stems from the fact that TXTIME of the HEPPDU length is not actually a multiple of 4 μs, but all non-HE stationsassume that all PPDUs are always a integer multiple of 4 μs. Therefore,non-HE stations may compute the TXTIME of the HE PPDU 1800 to beslightly longer than what HE STAs stations for the TXTIME.

An LENGTH field of the L-SIG field of the HE PPDU 1800 is computed basedon the following equation. The L-SIG field is used to communicate rateand length information. In an HE PPDU, the RATE field shall be set tothe value representing 6 Mb/s. The signal extension duration T_(SE)=6 μsis subtracted out during the L_LENGTH value calculation from the TXTIMEof the HE PPDU. A value L_LENGTH of the LENGTH field shall be set to:

$\begin{matrix}{{L\_ LENGTH} = {{\left\lceil \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - 20}{4} \right\rceil \times 3} - 3 - m}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{14mu} 47}\end{matrix}$

where TXTIME (in μs) is defined in the TXTIME and PSDU_LENGTHcalculation, and m is one when the HE PPDU is an HE MU PPDU or an HEextended range SU PPDU and is two otherwise. T_(SE) is 0 μs when astation is operating in a 5 GHz band, and 6 μs when the station isoperating in a 2.4 GHz band.

Regarding transmission and reception procedures, a transmit proceduresimply follows the TXTIME calculation described in the embodimentadopted. The receive procedure is a reverse operation of the transmitprocedure. Here we provide example of transmit and receive procedurebased on an embodiment including the features illustrated in FIG. 13. TXand RX procedures for other embodiments are similar with this example.

For an HE transmit procedure, there are five options for the transmitPHY procedure. For the first four options, transmit procedures accordingto embodiments are shown in FIGS. 19-22. The procedures of FIGS. 19-22do not describe the operation of optional features, such as DCM.

FIG. 19 illustrates a PHY transmit procedure for an HE Single User(HE_SU) format PPDU, according to an embodiment. The PHY transmitprocedure of FIG. 19 is used when the FORMAT field of thePHY-TXSTART.request(TXVECTOR) primitive is equal to HE_SU.

FIG. 20 illustrates a PHY transmit procedure for an HE Multi-User(HE_MU) format PPDU, according to an embodiment. The PHY transmitprocedure of FIG. 20 is used when the FORMAT field of thePHY-TXSTART.request(TXVECTOR) primitive is equal to HE_MU.

FIG. 21 illustrates a PHY transmit procedure for an HE Extended RangeSingle-User (HE_EXT_SU) format PPDU, according to an embodiment. The PHYtransmit procedure of FIG. 21 is used when the FORMAT field of thePHY-TXSTART.request(TXVECTOR) primitive is equal to HE_EXT_SU.

FIG. 22 illustrates a PHY transmit procedure for an HE Trigger (HE_TRIG)format PPDU, according to an embodiment. The PHY transmit procedure ofFIG. 22 is used when the FORMAT field of thePHY-TXSTART.request(TXVECTOR) is equal to HE_SU.

The fifth option is to follow the transmit procedure in Clause 18(Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) PHY specification) ofthe IEEE 802.11 standards, incorporated by reference herein in theirentirety, if the FORMAT parameter of the PHY-TXSTART.request(TXVECTOR)primitive is NON_HT and the NON_HT_MODULATION parameter is set toNON_HT_DUP_OFDM, except that the signal referred to in Clause 18 isinstead generated simultaneously on each of the 20 MHz channels that areindicated by a CH_BANDWIDTH parameter.

In FIG. 20, Note that for an HE MU PPDU the A-MPDU is per user in theMAC sublayer and the HE Training Symbols and Data are per user in thePHY layer, with the number HE Training Symbols depending on the maximumtotal number of space-time streams across all RUs.

The transmit procedures for PPDUs having frame format of Non-HT(NON_HT), HT Mixed Format (HT_MF), HT Greenfield Format (HT_GF), and VHTformat are beyond the scope of this document.

FIGS. 23A and 23B illustrate a first and second parts, respectively, ofa state machine implementation 2300 of the transmit PHY for a HE PPDUtransmission by an HE-capable PHY, according to an embodiment. Request(.request) and confirmation (.confirm) primitives are issued once perstate as shown. This state machine does not describe the operation ofoptional features, such as DCM.

In FIGS. 23A and 23B, operations described in the extant IEEE 802.11standard, some of which may not be pertinent to the claimed embodiments,are described with reference to the appropriate clauses in the IEEE802.11 standard. Some operation of the PHY when transmitting aredescribed below.

In all the above-described five options, in order to transmit data, theMAC generates a PHY-TXSTART.request primitive, which causes the PHYentity to enter the transmit state. Further, the PHY is set to operateat the appropriate frequency through station management via the PLME.Other transmit parameters, such as HE-MCS Coding types and transmitpower, are set via the PHY-SAP using the PHY-TXSTART.request(TXVECTOR)primitive.

The PHY indicates the state of the primary channel and other channels(if any) via a PHY-CCA.indication primitive. Transmission of the PPDUshall be initiated by the PHY after receiving thePHY-TXSTART.request(TXVECTOR) primitive.

Transmission of a PHY preamble may start when a TXVECTOR parameterTIME_OF_DEPARTURE_REQUESTED is false, and shall start when the TXVECTORparameter TIME_OF_DEPARTURE_REQUESTED is true, based on the parameterspassed in the PHY-TXSTART.request primitive.

If dot11TODImplemented and dot11TODActivated are true or ifdot11TimingMsmtActivated is true, then if the TXVECTOR parameterTIME_OF_DEPARTURE_REQUESTED is true, the PHY shall issue a PHY-TXSTART.confirm(TXSTATUS) primitive to the MAC, forwarding theTIME_OF_DEPARTURE corresponding to the time when the first frame energyis sent by the transmitting port and TIME_OF_DEPARTURE_ClockRateparameter within the TXSTATUS vector. If dot11TimingMsmtActivated istrue, then the PHY shall forward the value of TX_START_OF_FRAME_OFFSETin TXSTATUS vector.

After the PHY preamble transmission is started, the PHY entityimmediately initiates data scrambling and data encoding. The encodingmethod for the Data field is based on the FEC_CODING, CH_BANDWIDTH,NUM_STS, STBC, MCS, and NUM_USERS parameters of the TXVECTOR.

The SERVICE field and PSDU are encoded. The data shall be exchangedbetween the MAC and the PHY through a series of PHY-DATA.request(DATA)primitives issued by the MAC, and PHY-DATA. confirm primitives issued bythe PHY. PHY padding bits are appended to the PSDU to make the number ofbits in the coded PSDU an integral multiple of the number of coded bitsper OFDM symbol.

The MAC can prematurely terminate transmission through thePHY-TXEND.request primitive. PSDU transmission is terminated byreceiving a PHY-TXEND.request primitive. Each PHY-TXEND.requestprimitive is acknowledged with a PHY-TXEND.confirm primitive from thePHY.

In the embodiment illustrated by FIG. 14, a packet extension may bepresent in the PPDU. When no packet extension and no signal extension ispresent, the PHY-TXEND.confirm primitive is generated at the end of lastsymbol of the PPDU (rounded up to the nearest 4 μs interval). When apacket extension is present and no signal extension is present, thePHY-TXEND.confirm primitive is generated at the end of the packetextension. When no packet extension is present and a signal extension ispresent, the PHY-TXEND.confirm primitive is generated at the end of thesignal extension. When a packet extension and a signal extension ispresent, the PHY-TXEND.confirm primitive is generated at the end of thesignal extension.

In the PHY, the GI with GI duration indicated in GI_TYPE parameter ofthe TXVECTOR is inserted in every data OFDM symbol as a countermeasureagainst delay spread.

When the PPDU transmission is completed the PHY entity enters thereceive state.

Illustrative PHY receive procedures for some HE PPDUs, according toembodiments, are illustrated in FIGS. 24-27. The procedures of FIGS.24-27 do not describe the operation of optional features, such as DCM.

FIG. 24 illustrates a PHY receive procedure for an HE Single User(HE_SU) format PPDU, according to an embodiment. The PHY transmitprocedure of FIG. 24 is used when an HE preamble of a received PPDUindicates the PPDU is an HE_SU PPDU.

FIG. 25 illustrates a PHY receive procedure for an HE Multi-User (HE_MU)format PPDU, according to an embodiment. The PHY transmit procedure ofFIG. 25 is used when an HE preamble of a received PPDU indicates thePPDU is an HE_MU PPDU.

FIG. 26 illustrates a PHY receive procedure for an HE Extended RangeSingle-User (HE_EXT_SU) format PPDU, according to an embodiment. The PHYtransmit procedure of FIG. 26 is used when an HE preamble of a receivedPPDU indicates the PPDU is an HE_EXT_SU PPDU.

FIG. 27 illustrates a PHY receive procedure for an HE Trigger (HE_TRIG)format PPDU, according to an embodiment. The PHY transmit procedure ofFIG. 27 is used when an HE preamble of a received PPDU indicates thePPDU is an HE_TRIG PPDU.

FIGS. 28A and 28B illustrate first and second parts, respectively, of atypical PHY receive state machine implementation. These receiveprocedures and state machine do not describe the operation of optionalfeatures, such as DCM.

In FIGS. 28A and 28B, operations described in the extant IEEE 802.11standard, some of which may not be pertinent to the claimed embodiments,are described with reference to the appropriate clauses in the IEEE802.11 standard. Some operation of the PHY when transmitting aredescribed below.

If the detected format indicates a NON_HT PPDU, refer to the receiveprocedure and state machine in Clause 18 (Orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexing (OFDM) PHY specification). If the detected format indicatesan HT PPDU format, refer to the receive procedure and state machine inClause 20 (High Throughput (HT) PHY specification). If the detectedformat indicates a VHT PPDU format, refer to the receive procedure andstate machine in Clause 22 (Very High Throughput (VHT) PHYspecification).Through station management (via the PLME) the PHY is setto the appropriate frequency, as specified in 26.4 (HE PLME). The PHYhas also been configured with cell identification information and STAidentification information (i.e., BSS Color value and STA ID in thecell) so that it can receive data intended for the STA in the specificcell. Other receive parameters, such as RSSI and indicated DATARATE, maybe accessed via the PHY-SAP.

Upon receiving the transmitted PHY preamble overlapping the primary 20MHz channel in a greater than or equal to 20 MHz BSS, the PHY measures areceive signal strength. This activity is indicated by the PHY to theMAC via a PHY-CCA.indication primitive. A PHY-CCA.indication(BUSY,channel-list) primitive is also issued as an initial indication ofreception of a signal. The channel-list parameter of thePHYCCA.indication primitive is absent when the operating channel widthis 20 MHz. The channel-list parameter is present and includes theelement primary when the operating channel width is 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160MHz, or 80+80 MHz.

The PHY shall not issue a PHY-RXSTART.indication primitive in responseto a PPDU that does not overlap the primary channel. The PHY includesthe most recently measured RSSI value in thePHY-RXSTART.indication(RXVECTOR) primitive issued to the MAC.

After the PHY-CCA.indication(BUSY, channel-list) primitive is issued,the PHY entity shall begin receiving the training symbols and searchingfor the preambles for a non-HT, HT, VHT, and HE PPDUs. If theconstellation used in the first symbol after the first long trainingfield is modulated in QBPSK, the PHY entity shall continue to detect thereceived signal using the receive procedure for HT-GF depicted in Clause20 of the IEEE Std 802.11. Otherwise, to detect the HE preamble, the PHYentity shall search for L-SIG and RL-SIG fields in order to set themaximum duration of the data stream. If an RL-SIG field is detected, thePHY entity shall check the parity bits and RATE fields in the L-SIG andRL-SIG fields. If the check of the parity bits is invalid or the RATEfield is not set to MCS0 in Non-HT, a PHY-RXSTART.indication primitiveis not issued. If the check of the parity bit is valid and the RATEfield is set to MCS0 but the LENGTH field value in L-SIG is a multipleof 3, a PHY-RXSTART.indication primitive is not issued. In both cases,the PHY should continue to detect the received signal using Non-HT, HT,and VHT receive procedure per Clauses 18, 20, and 22, respectively, ofthe IEEE Std 802.11.

As shown in FIGS. 24 and 27, if a valid parity bit and the RATE withMCS0 are indicated in the L-SIG and RL-SIG fields and the LENGTH fieldvalue in L-SIG and RL-SIG meet the condition that the remainder is 1after LENGTH is divided by 3, the PHY entity shall begin receiving thesequence of HE-SIG-A field, HE-STF, and HE-LTF for HE_SU PPDU andHE_TRIG PPDU as shown in FIG. 24 and FIG. 27, respectively.

After the RL-SIG field, the PHY entity shall receive two symbols of theHE-SIG-A field immediately followed by the HE-STF. The PHY entity shallcheck the Cyclic Redundancy Code (CRC) of HE-SIG-A. If the CRC check isvalid, the PHY entity shall report a TXOP, check a BSS Color and Format,and continue to receive the HE-STF. The PHY entity shall report to theMAC entity the predicted duration of the TXOP indicated by the HE-SIG-Afield.

The PHY entity shall check the BSS color filed in the HE-SIG-A field. Ifthe BSS color field doesn't contain an appropriate value, the PHY entityshall set PHY_RXSTART.indication(RXVECTOR) then setPHY_RXEND.indication(Filtered). A complete discussion of BSS Colorprocessing is outside the scope of this document.

The PHY entity shall check the Format field in the HE-SIG-A field. Ifthe Format field indicates an HE_SU PPDU, the PHY entity shall receivethe HE-STF for 4 μs after the HE-SIG-A field. If the Format fieldindicates an HE_TRIG PPDU, the PHY entity shall receive the HE-STF for 8μs after the HE-SIG-A field. The PHY entity shall maintainPHY-CCA.indication(BUSY, channellist) primitive for the predictedduration of the transmitted PPDU, as defined the IEEE Std 802.11ac, forall supported modes, unsupported modes, a Reserved HE-SIG-A Indication,and for an invalid HE-SIG-A CRC. Reserved HE-SIG-A Indication is definedas an HE-SIG-A field with Reserved bits equal to 0 or some otherpredetermined value as set in an IEEE Std 802.11 standard. If theHE-SIG-A field indicates an unsupported mode, the PHY shall issue aPHY-RXEND.indication(UnsupportedRate) primitive. If the HE-SIG-A fieldindicates an invalid CRC or Reserved HE-SIG-A Indication, the PHY shallissue the error condition PHY-RXEND.indication(FormatViolation)primitive.

As shown in FIG. 25, if a valid parity bit of L-SIG and RL-SIG fields isindicated and the LENGTH field value in L-SIG and RL-SIG meet thecondition that the remainder is 2 after LENGTH divided by 3, the PHYentity shall detect the signal constellations in the second symbol afterRL-SIG, and if the constellation is QBPSK modulated, the PHY entityshall continue receiving the sequence of HE-SIG-A, HE-STF, and HE-LTFfor an HE_EXT_SU PPDU as shown in FIG. 25.

After the RL-SIG field, the PHY entity shall receive four symbols of theHE-SIG-A field immediately followed by the HE-STF. The PHY entity shallcheck the CRC of HE-SIG-A field. If the CRC check is valid, the PHYentity shall report TXOP, check BSS Color, and continue to receiveHE-STF. The PHY entity shall report to the MAC entity the predictedduration of the TXOP indicated by the HE-SIG-A field.

The PHY entity shall check the BSS color field in the HE-SIG-A field. Ifthe BSS color field doesn't contain an appropriate value, the PHY entityshall set the PHY_RXSTART.indication(RXVECTOR) and then setPHY_RXEND.indication(Filtered).

The PHY entity shall receive the HE-STF for 4 μs after the HE-SIG-Afield. The PHY entity shall maintain the PHY-CCA.indication(BUSY,channellist) primitive for the predicted duration of the transmittedPPDU for all supported modes, unsupported modes, Reserved HE-SIG-AIndication, and invalid HE-SIG-A CRC. A Reserved HE-SIG-A Indication isdefined as an HE-SIG-A with Reserved bits equal to 0 or some otherpredetermined value as set in an IEEE Std 802.11 standard. If theHE-SIG-A field indicates an unsupported mode, the PHY shall issue aPHY-RXEND.indication(UnsupportedRate) primitive. If the HE-SIG-A fieldindicates an invalid CRC or a Reserved HE-SIG-A Indication, the PHYshall issue the error condition PHY-RXEND.indication (FormatViolation)primitive.

As shown in FIG. 26, if a valid parity bit of the L-SIG and RL-SIGfields is indicated and the LENGTH field value in the L-SIG and RL-SIGfield meet the condition that the remainder is 2 after LENGTH divided by3, the PHY entity shall detect the signal constellations in the secondsymbol after RL-SIG, and if the constellation is BPSK modulated, the PHYentity shall continue receiving the sequence of HE-SIG-A, HE-SIG-B,HE-STF, and HE-LTF for an HE_MU PPDU, as shown in FIG. 26.

After the RL-SIG field, the PHY entity shall receive two symbols of theHE-SIG-A field immediately followed by the HE-SIG-B field.

The PHY entity shall check the CRC of the HE-SIG-A field. If the CRCcheck is valid, the PHY entity shall report TXOP, check BSS Color, andcontinue to receive the HE-SIG-B field. The PHY entity shall report tothe MAC entity the predicted duration of the TXOP indicated in theHE-SIG-A field.

The PHY entity shall check the BSS color in the HE-SIG-A field. If theBSS color field doesn't contain an appropriate value, the PHY entityshall set the PHY_RXSTART.indication(RXVECTOR) then setPHY_RXEND.indication(Filtered).

After the HE-SIG-A field, the PHY entity shall receive the HE-SIG-Bfield for the number of symbols predicted from the HE-SIG-A field. If acommon field is presents in the HE-SIG-B field, the PHY entity shallcheck the CRC of the common field. If the CRC in the common field isvalid or the common field is not presented, the PHY entity shall searchfor an intended STA-ID in each user-specific subfield that has a validCRC. If no CRC is valid or no intended STA-ID is detected, the PHYentity shall set PHY_RXSTART.indication (RXVECTOR) then setPHY_RXEND.indication(Filtered).

If a complete allocation of an intended STA-ID is detected in block witha valid CRC, the PHY entity shall continue receiving the HE-STF fieldfor 4 μs after the HE-SIG-B field for the detected and intended STA. ThePHY entity shall maintain PHY-CCA.indication(BUSY, channellist)primitive for the predicted duration of the transmitted PPDU for allsupported modes, unsupported modes, Reserved HE-SIG-A Indication, andfor an invalid HE-SIG-A CRC. If the HE-SIG-A field indicates anunsupported mode, the PHY shall issue aPHY-RXEND.indication(UnsupportedRate) primitive. If the HE-SIG-A fieldindicates an invalid CRC or Reserved HE-SIG-A Indication, the PHY shallissue the error condition PHY-RXEND.indication(FormatViolation)primitive.

If signal loss occurs during reception prior to completion of the PSDUreception, the error condition PHY-RXEND.indication(CarrierLost) shallbe reported to the MAC. After waiting for the end of the PPDU, the PHYshall set the PHY-CCA.indication(IDLE) primitive and return to the RXIDLE state.

Except for an HE NDP, a data field follows a HE-STF and HE-LTF of an HEPPDU. The PHY entity shall calculate N_(SYM) and T_(PE) as follows:

$\begin{matrix}{N_{SYM} = {\left\lfloor \frac{T_{DATA\_ EST}}{T_{SYM}} \right\rfloor - b_{2}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{11mu} 48} \\{T_{PE} = {\left\lfloor \frac{T_{DATA\_ EST} - \left( {N_{SYM} \times T_{SYM}} \right)}{4} \right\rfloor \times 4\mspace{20mu} {µs}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{11mu} 49}\end{matrix}$

where T_(DATA_EST) is an estimate of the duration of the HE-DATA fielddetermined according to the appropriate one of the following threeformulas.

For an HE MU PPDU, T_(DATA_EST) is determined by:

$\begin{matrix}{T_{DATA\_ EST} = {{\frac{{L\_ LENGTH} + m + 3}{3} \times 4} - T_{{RL} - {SIG}} - T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A} - T_{{HE} - {SIG} - B} - T_{HE\_ PREAMBLE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{11mu} 50}\end{matrix}$

For an HE SU PPDU and HE trigger based PPDU, T_(DATA_EST) is determinedby:

$\begin{matrix}{T_{DATA\_ EST} = {{\frac{{L\_ LENGTH} + m + 3}{3} \times 4} - T_{{RL} - {SIG}} - T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A} - T_{HE\_ PREAMBLE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{11mu} 51}\end{matrix}$

For an HE Extended PPDU, T_(DATA_EST) is determined by:

$\begin{matrix}{T_{DATA\_ EST} = {{\frac{{L\_ LENGTH} + m + 3}{3} \times 4} - T_{{RL} - {SIG}} - T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A} - T_{{HE} - {SIG} - A - E} - T_{HE\_ PREAMBLE}}} & {{Eq}.\mspace{11mu} 52}\end{matrix}$

where, for the received HE PPDU, T_(PE) is a duration of a PacketExtension, N_(SYM) is a number of symbols in a Data field, L_LENGTH is avalue indicated by a length field of an L-SIG field, T_(HE_PREAMBLE) isa duration of HE preamble, and m is a PE disambiguity indication in apacket extension field of an HE-SIG-A field.

The received PSDU bits are assembled into octets, decoded, and presentedto the MAC using a series of PHY-DATA.indication(DATA) primitiveexchanges. Any final bits that cannot be assembled into a complete octetare considered pad bits and discarded. After the reception of the finalbit of the last PSDU octet, and possible padding and tail bits, the PHYentity shall check whether packet extension is applied. If packetextension and/or signal extension are applied, the PHY entity shall waituntil the packet extension and signal extension expires before returningto the RX IDLE state, as shown in FIGS. 28A and 28B.

FIG. 29 illustrates a process 2900, according to an embodiment, fordetermining a Packet Extension (PE) Disambiguity bit of an HE-SIG-Afield of an HE PPDU and a transmission time TXTIME of the HE PPDU, wherethe HE PPDU is to be transmitted on a 2.4 GHz band.

At S2902, the process 2900 determines whether the PE Disambiguity bitshould be set to 1 or 0. In a first embodiment, the process 2900determines that the PE Disambiguity bit should be set according to arelationship such as the relationship shown in Equation 43. In a secondembodiment, the process 2900 determines that the PE Disambiguity bitshould be set according to a relationship such as one of therelationship shown in Equations 19-21.

When the relationship is satisfied, the process 2900 determines that thePE Disambiguity bit should be set to 1, otherwise, the process 2900determines that the PE Disambiguity bit should be set to 0.

At S2904, when the process 2900 determined that the PE Disambiguity bitis set to 1, the process 2900 proceeds to S2908, and otherwise theprocess 2900 proceeds to S2906.

At S2906, the process 2900 assigns a first value (such as zero) to thePE Disambiguity bit, and then proceeds to S2910.

At S2908, the process 2900 assigns a second value (such as one) to thePE Disambiguity bit, and then proceeds to S2910.

At S2910, the process 2900 proceeds to S2920 when the HE PPDU is an HESingle User (SU) PPDU, and proceeds to S2912 otherwise.

At S2912, the process 2900 proceeds to S2920 when the HE PPDU is an HETrigger-based PPDU, and proceeds to S2914 otherwise.

At S2914, the process 2900 proceeds to S2922 when the HE PPDU is an HEMulti User (MU) PPDU, and proceeds to S2916 otherwise.

At S2916, the process 2900 proceeds to S2924 when the HE PPDU is an HEExtended Range SU PPDU, and proceeds to S2926 otherwise.

At S2920, the process 2900 determines a transmission time TXTIME of theHE PPDU. In the first embodiment, the equation is Equation 44. In thesecond embodiment, the equation is Equation 22. The process 2900 thenends.

At S2922, the process 2900 determines a transmission time TXTIME of theHE PPDU. In the first embodiment, the equation is Equation 45. In thesecond embodiment, the equation is Equation 23. The process 2900 thenends.

At S2924, the process 2900 determines a transmission time TXTIME of theHE PPDU. In the first embodiment, the equation is Equation 46. In thesecond embodiment, the equation is Equation 24. The process 2900 thenends.

At S2926, the process 2900 determines a transmission time TXTIME of theHE PPDU according to an extant IEEE 802.11 standard. The process 2900then ends.

Embodiments improve the fairness of access to a shared wireless medium.In particular, embodiments promote fairness of access between HE andnon-HE stations. In some embodiments, fairness is promoted by having anHE-capable station that receives an HE PPDU in a 2.4 GHz band waitingfor a signal extension duration and a time gap after the HE PPDU beforeattempting to access the medium. The HE-capable station may be caused towait for the signal extension duration and a time gap by the transmitterof the HE PPDU: 1) setting a length indication of an L-SIG field of thereceived PPDU to include the signal extension duration and a time gapand 2) setting a PE-disambiguity field of a HE-SIG-A field toappropriate values.

The solutions provided herein have been described with reference to awireless LAN system; however, it should be understood that thesesolutions are also applicable to other network environments, such ascellular telecommunication networks, wired networks, etc.

The above explanation and figures are applied to an HE station, an HEframe, an HE PPDU, an HE-SIG field and the like of the IEEE 802.11axamendment, but they can also applied to a receiver, a frame, PPDU, a SIGfield, and the like of another future amendment of IEEE 802.11.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include electronic devicesconfigured to perform one or more of the operations described herein.However, embodiments are not limited thereto.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may further include systemsconfigured to operate using the processes described herein. The systemsmay include basic service sets (BSSs) such as the BSSs 100 of FIG. 1,but embodiments are not limited thereto.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in the form ofprogram instructions executable through various computer means, such asa processor or microcontroller, and recorded in a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium. The non-transitory computer-readable mediummay include one or more of program instructions, data files, datastructures, and the like. The program instructions may be adapted toexecute the processes and to generate and decode the frames describedherein when executed on a device such as the wireless devices shown inFIG. 1.

In an embodiment, the non-transitory computer-readable medium mayinclude a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), or aflash memory. In an embodiment, the non-transitory computer-readablemedium may include a magnetic, optical, or magneto-optical disc such asa hard disk drive, a floppy disc, a CD-ROM, and the like.

In some cases, an embodiment of the invention may be an apparatus (e.g.,an AP station, a non-AP station, or another network or computing device)that includes one or more hardware and software logic structure forperforming one or more of the operations described herein. For example,as described above, the apparatus may include a memory unit, whichstores instructions that may be executed by a hardware processorinstalled in the apparatus. The apparatus may also include one or moreother hardware or software elements, including a network interface, adisplay device, etc.

While this invention has been described in connection with what ispresently considered to be practical embodiments, embodiments are notlimited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, may includevarious modifications and equivalent arrangements included within thespirit and scope of the appended claims. The order of operationsdescribed in a process is illustrative and some operations may bere-ordered. Further, two or more embodiments may be combined.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method performed by a transmitting wirelessdevice, the method comprising: setting a Packet Extension Disambiguitybit of an HE Signal-A (HE-SIG-A) field of a High-Efficiency (HE) PHYProtocol Data Unit (PPDU) to one or zero based on (1) a duration of apacket extension of the HE PPDU and (2) a duration of a signal extensionof the HE PPDU, wherein, when the packet extension is present, theduration of the packet extension is an integer multiple of 4 us and thepacket extension provides additional receive processing time for arecipient wireless device; and transmitting the HE PPDU to the recipientwireless device, wherein the recipient wireless device is to beconfigured to determine a number of data symbols in the HE PPDU usingthe Packet Extension Disambiguity bit.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinsetting the Packet Extension Disambiguity bit comprises: determiningwhether a relationship${T_{PE} + \left( {{4 \times \left\lceil \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - {20}}{4} \right\rceil} - \left( {{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - {20}} \right)} \right)} \geq T_{SYM}$is satisfied, where T_(PE) is the duration of the packet extension ofthe HE PPDU, TXTIME is a transmission time of the HE PPDU, T_(SE) is theduration of the signal extension of the HE PPDU, and T_(SYM) is aduration of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU; setting the PacketExtension Disambiguity bit of the HE-SIG-A field of the HE PPDU to onewhen the relationship is satisfied; and setting the Packet ExtensionDisambiguity bit of the HE-SIG-A field of the HE PPDU to zero when therelationship is not satisfied.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein T_(SE)is 6 μs when the transmitting wireless device is operating in a 2.4 GHzband, and 0 μs when the transmitting wireless device is operating in a 5GHz band, and wherein generating the HE PPDU further includes:determining a value L_LENGTH of a Length field of a Non-HT Signal(L-SIG) field of the HE PPDU according to${{L\_ LENGTH} = {{\left\lceil \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - {20}}{4} \right\rceil \times 3} - 3 - m}},$where m is 1 when the HE PPDU is an HE Multi User (MU) PPDU HE orExtended Range Single User (SU) PPDU and 2 otherwise.
 4. The method ofclaim 2, further comprising: when the HE PPDU is an HE Single User (SU)PPDU, determining the transmission time TXTIME according to:TXTIME = T_(LEG − PREAMBLE) + T_(L − SIG) + T_(RL − SIG) + T_(HE − SIG − A) + T_(HE − PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)where T_(L-STF) is a Non-High Throughput (non-HT) Short Training Field(STF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(L-LTF) is a Non-HT Long Training Field(LTF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-STF-NT) is an HE STF duration ofthe HE PPDU, T_(L-SIG) is a Non-HT Signal (L-SIG) field duration of theHE PPDU, T_(RL-SIG) is a Repeated non-HT SIGNAL field duration of the HEPPDU, T_(HE-SIG-A) is an HE Signal A (HE-SIG-A) field duration of the HEPPDU, N_(SYM) is a number of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU,T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is a duration of each Orthogonal Frequency DivisionModulation (OFDM) symbol, including Guard Interval (GI), in an HE-LTFfield of the HE PPDU, N_(HE-LTF) is a number of symbols in the HE LTFfield of the HE PPDU, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF) T_(L-LTF),and T_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)×T_(HE-LTF-SYM).5. The method of claim 2, further comprising: when the HE PPDU is an HEtrigger-based PPDU, determining the transmission time TXTIME accordingto:TXTIME = T_(LEG − PREAMBLE) + T_(L − SIG) + T_(RL − SIG) + T_(HE − SIG − A) + T_(HE − PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)where T_(L-STF) is a Non-High Throughput (non-HT) Short Training Field(STF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(L-LTF) is a Non-HT Long Training Field(LTF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-STF-T) is an HE STF duration of theHE PPDU, T_(L-SIG) is a Non-HT Signal (L-SIG) field duration of the HEPPDU, T_(RL-SIG) is a Repeated non-HT SIGNAL field duration of the HEPPDU, T_(HE-SIG-A) is an HE Signal A (HE-SIG-A) field duration of the HEPPDU, N_(SYM) is a number of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU,T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is a duration of each Orthogonal Frequency DivisionModulation (OFDM) symbol, including Guard Interval (GI), in an HE-LTFfield of the HE PPDU, N_(HE-LTF) is a number of symbols in the HE LTFfield of the HE PPDU, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF) T_(L-LTF),and T_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(HE-STF-T)+N_(HE-LTF)×T_(HE-LTF-SYM).6. The method of claim 2, further comprising: when the HE PPDU is an HEMulti User (MU) PPDU, determining the transmission time TXTIME accordingto:TXTIME = T_(LEG − PREAMBLE) + T_(L − SIG) + T_(RL − SIG) + T_(HE − SIG − A) + N_(HE − SIG − B)T_(HE − SIG − B) + T_(HE − PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)where T_(L-STF) is a Non-High Throughput (non-HT) Short Training Field(STF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(L-LTF) is a Non-HT Long Training Field(LTF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-STF-NT) is an HE STF duration ofthe HE PPDU, T_(L-SIG) is a Non-HT Signal (L-SIG) field duration of theHE PPDU, T_(RL-SIG) is a Repeated non-HT SIGNAL field duration of the HEPPDU, T_(HE-SIG-A) is an HE Signal A (HE-SIG-A) field duration of the HEPPDU, T_(HE-SIG-B) is an duration of each OFDM symbol in an HE Signal B(HE-SIG-B) field of the HE PPDU, N_(HE-SIG-B) is a number of symbols inthe HE-SIG-B field of the HE PPDU, N_(SYM) is a number of symbols in adata field of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is a duration of eachOrthogonal Frequency Division Modulation (OFDM) symbol, including GuardInterval (GI), in an HE-LTF field of the HE PPDU, N_(HE_LTF) is a numberof symbols in an HE LTF field of the HE PPDU, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equalto T_(L-STF)+T_(L-LTF), and T_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal toT_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)×T_(HE-LTF-SYM).
 7. The method of claim 2,further comprising: when the HE PPDU is an HE Extended Range Single User(SU) PPDU, determining the transmission time TXTIME according to:TXTIME = T_(LEG − PREAMBLE) + T_(L − SIG) + T_(RL − SIG) + T_(HE − SIG − A) + T_(HE − SIG − A − R) + T_(HE − PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)where T_(L-STF) is a Non-High Throughput (non-HT) Short Training Field(STF) duration, T_(L-LTF) is a Non-HT Long Training Field (LTF)duration, T_(HE-STF-NT) is an HE STF duration, T_(L-SIG) is a Non-HTSignal (L-SIG) field duration, T_(RL-SIG) is a repeated non-HT SIGNALfield duration, T_(HE-SIG-A) is an HE Signal A (HE-SIG-A) fieldduration, T_(HE-SIG-A-R) is an HE-SIG-A field duration for ExtendedRange, N_(SYM) is a number of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU,T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is a duration of each Orthogonal Frequency DivisionModulation (OFDM) symbol, including Guard Interval (GI), in an HE-LTFfield of the HE PPDU, N_(HE-LTF) is a number of symbols in an HE LTFfield of the HE PPDU, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF)+T_(L-LTF),and T_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)×T_(HE-LTF-SYM).8. The method of claim 1, wherein, when the packet extension is present,the packet extension is transmitted with a same average power as a datafield of the HE PPDU.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:setting a pre-Forward Error Correction (pre-FEC) padding factor field ofthe HE-SIG-A field of the HE PPDU, wherein the recipient wireless deviceis to be configured to determine the duration of the packet extensionbased on the pre-FEC padding factor field and a maximum packet extensionduration of the recipient wireless device.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein the recipient wireless device is to be configured to determinethat: when the maximum packet duration of the recipient wireless deviceis 0 us, the packet extension is not present for the HE PPDU, when themaximum packet duration of the recipient wireless device is 8 us and (1)the pre-FEC padding factor field has a value of 1, the packet extensionis not present for the HE PPDU, (2) the pre-FEC padding factor field hasa value of 2, the packet extension is not present for the HE PPDU, (3)the pre-FEC padding factor field has a value of 3, the duration of thepacket extension is 4 us, and (4) the pre-FEC padding factor field has avalue of 4, the duration of the packet extension is 8 us, and when themaximum packet duration of the recipient wireless device is 16 us and(1) the pre-FEC padding factor field has a value of 1, the duration ofthe packet extension is 4 us, (2) the pre-FEC padding factor field has avalue of 2, the duration of the packet extension is 8 us, (3) thepre-FEC padding factor field has a value of 3, the duration of thepacket extension is 12 us, and (4) the pre-FEC padding factor field hasa value of 4, the duration of the packet extension is 16 us.
 11. Awireless device comprising: a transmitter circuit; wherein the wirelessdevice is to: set a Packet Extension Disambiguity bit of an HE Signal-A(HE-SIG-A) field of a High-Efficiency (HE) PHY Protocol Data Unit (PPDU)to one or zero based on (1) a duration of a packet extension of the HEPPDU and (2) a duration of a signal extension of the HE PPDU, wherein,when the packet extension is present, the duration of the packetextension is an integer multiple of 4 us and the packet extensionprovides additional receive processing time for a recipient wirelessdevice, and transmit the HE PPDU to the recipient wireless device,wherein the recipient wireless device is to be configured to determine anumber of data symbols in the HE PPDU using the Packet ExtensionDisambiguity bit.
 12. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein settingthe Packet Extension Disambiguity bit comprises: determining whether arelationship${T_{PE} + \left( {{4 \times \left\lceil \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - {20}}{4} \right\rceil} - \left( {{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - {20}} \right)} \right)} \geq T_{SYM}$is satisfied, where T_(PE) is a duration of the packet extension of theHE PPDU, TXTIME is a transmission time of the HE PPDU, T_(SE) is theduration of the signal extension of the HE PPDU, and T_(SYM) is aduration of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU; setting the PacketExtension Disambiguity bit of the HE-SIG-A field of the HE PPDU to onewhen the relationship is satisfied; and setting the Packet ExtensionDisambiguity bit of the HE-SIG-A field of the HE PPDU to zero when therelationship is not satisfied.
 13. The wireless device of claim 12,wherein T_(SE) is 6 μs when the wireless device is operating in a 2.4GHz band, and 0 μs when the wireless device is operating in a 5 GHzband, and wherein generating the HE PPDU further includes: determine avalue L_LENGTH of a Length field of a Non-HT Signal (L-SIG) field of theHE PPDU according to${{L\_ LENGTH} = {{\left\lceil \frac{{TXTIME} - T_{SE} - {20}}{4} \right\rceil \times 3} - 3 - m}},$where m is 1 when the HE PPDU is an HE Multi User (MU) PPDU HE orExtended Range Single User (SU) PPDU and 2 otherwise.
 14. The wirelessdevice of claim 12, further comprising: when the HE PPDU is an HE SingleUser (SU) PPDU, the wireless device is to determine the TXTIME accordingto:TXTIME = T_(LEG − PREAMBLE) + T_(L − SIG) + T_(RL − SIG) + T_(HE − SIG − A) + T_(HE − PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)where T_(L-STF) is a Non-High Throughput (non-HT) Short Training Field(STF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(L-LTF) is a Non-HT Long Training Field(LTF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-STF-NT) is an HE STF duration ofthe HE PPDU, T_(L-SIG) is a Non-HT Signal (L-SIG) field duration of theHE PPDU, T_(RL-SIG) is a Repeated non-HT SIGNAL field duration of the HEPPDU, T_(HE-SIG-A) is an HE Signal A (HE-SIG-A) field duration of the HEPPDU, N_(SYM) is a number of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU,T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is a duration of each Orthogonal Frequency DivisionModulation (OFDM) symbol, including Guard Interval (GI), in an HE-LTFfield of the HE PPDU, N_(HE-LTF) is a number of symbols in the HE LTFfield of the HE PPDU, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF)+T_(L-LTF),and T_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)×T_(HE-LTF-SYM).15. The wireless device of claim 12, further comprising: when the HEPPDU is an HE trigger-based PPDU, the wireless device is to determinethe TXTIME according to:TXTIME = T_(LEG − PREAMBLE) + T_(L − SIG) + T_(RL − SIG) + T_(HE − SIG − A) + T_(HE − PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)where T_(L-STF) is a Non-High Throughput (non-HT) Short Training Field(STF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(L-LTF) is a Non-HT Long Training Field(LTF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-STF-T) is an HE STF duration of theHE PPDU, T_(L-SIG) is a Non-HT Signal (L-SIG) field duration of the HEPPDU, T_(RL-SIG) is a Repeated non-HT SIGNAL field duration of the HEPPDU, T_(HE-SIG-A) is an HE Signal A (HE-SIG-A) field duration of the HEPPDU, N_(SYM) is a number of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU,T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is a duration of each Orthogonal Frequency DivisionModulation (OFDM) symbol, including Guard Interval (GI), in an HE-LTFfield of the HE PPDU, N_(HE-LTF) is a number of symbols in the HE LTFfield of the HE PPDU, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF)+T_(L-LTF),and T_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(HE-STF-T)+N_(HE-LTF)×T_(HE-LTF-SYM).16. The wireless device of claim 12, further comprising: when the HEPPDU is an HE Multi User (MU) PPDU, the wireless device is to determinethe TXTIME according to:TXTIME = T_(LEG − PREAMBLE) + T_(L − SIG) + T_(RL − SIG) + T_(HE − SIG − A) + N_(HE − SIG − B) + T_(HE − SIG − B) + T_(HE − PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)where T_(L-STF) is a Non-High Throughput (non-HT) Short Training Field(STF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(L-LTF) is a Non-HT Long Training Field(LTF) duration of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-STF-NT) is an HE STF duration ofthe HE PPDU, T_(L-SIG) is a Non-HT Signal (L-SIG) field duration of theHE PPDU, T_(RL-SIG) is a Repeated non-HT SIGNAL field duration of the HEPPDU, T_(HE-SIG-A) is an HE Signal A (HE-SIG-A) field duration of the HEPPDU, T_(HE-SIG-B) is an duration of each OFDM symbol in an HE Signal B(HE-SIG-B) field of the HE PPDU, N_(HE-SIG-B) is a number of symbols inthe HE-SIG-B field of the HE PPDU, N_(SYM) is a number of symbols in adata field of the HE PPDU, T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is a duration of eachOrthogonal Frequency Division Modulation (OFDM) symbol, including GuardInterval (GI), in an HE-LTF field of the HE PPDU, N_(HE-LTF) is a numberof symbols in an HE LTF field of the HE PPDU, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equalto T_(L-STF)+T_(L-LTF), and T_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal toT_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)×T_(HE-LTF-SYM).
 17. The wireless device ofclaim 12, further comprising: when the HE PPDU is an HE Extended RangeSingle User (SU) PPDU, the wireless device is to determine the TXTIMEaccording to:TXTIME = T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) + T_(L-SIG) + T_(RL-SIG) + T_(HE-SIG-A) + T_(HE-SIG-A-R) + T_(HE-PREAMBLE) + N_(SYM)T_(SYM) + T_(PE) + T_(SE)where T_(L-STF) is a Non-High Throughput (non-HT) Short Training Field(STF) duration, T_(L-LTF) is a Non-HT Long Training Field (LTF)duration, T_(HE-STF-NT) is an HE STF duration, T_(L-SIG) is a Non-HTSignal (L-SIG) field duration, T_(RL-SIG) is a repeated non-HT SIGNALfield duration, T_(HE-SIG-A) is an HE Signal A (HE-SIG-A) fieldduration, T_(HE-SIG-A-R) is an HE-SIG-A field duration for ExtendedRange, N_(SYM) is a number of symbols in a data field of the HE PPDU,T_(HE-LTF-SYM) is a duration of each Orthogonal Frequency DivisionModulation (OFDM) symbol, including Guard Interval (GI), in an HE-LTFfield of the HE PPDU, N_(HE-LTF) is a number of symbols in an HE LTFfield of the HE PPDU, T_(LEG-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(L-STF)+T_(L-LTF),and T_(HE-PREAMBLE) is equal to T_(HE-STF-NT)+N_(HE-LTF)×T_(HE-LTF-SYM).18. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein, when the packet extensionis present, the packet extension is transmitted with a same averagepower as a data field of the HE PPDU.
 19. The wireless device of claim11, further comprising: setting a pre-Forward Error Correction (pre-FEC)padding factor field of the HE-SIG-A field of the HE PPDU, wherein therecipient wireless device is to be configured to determine the durationof the packet extension based on the pre-FEC padding factor field and amaximum packet extension duration of the recipient wireless device. 20.The wireless device of claim 19, wherein the recipient wireless deviceis to be configured to determine that: when the maximum packet durationof the recipient wireless device is 0 us, the packet extension is notpresent for the HE PPDU, when the maximum packet duration of therecipient wireless device is 8 us and (1) the pre-FEC padding factorfield has a value of 1, the packet extension is not present for the HEPPDU, (2) the pre-FEC padding factor field has a value of 2, the packetextension is not present for the HE PPDU, (3) the pre-FEC padding factorfield has a value of 3, the duration of the packet extension is 4 us,and (4) the pre-FEC padding factor field has a value of 4, the durationof the packet extension is 8 us, and when the maximum packet duration ofthe recipient wireless device is 16 us and (1) the pre-FEC paddingfactor field has a value of 1, the duration of the packet extension is 4us, (2) the pre-FEC padding factor field has a value of 2, the durationof the packet extension is 8 us, (3) the pre-FEC padding factor fieldhas a value of 3, the duration of the packet extension is 12 us, and (4)the pre-FEC padding factor field has a value of 4, the duration of thepacket extension is 16 us.